Skin and Bones
by 10Blue10
Summary: (Book Five) A childhood acquaintance of Hiccup and relative of Fishlegs is returning to Berk after 17 years of travelling the world; bringing with him a strange and rather disturbing collection. Suffice to say he's taken a very different approach to studying dragons. Still, Toothless has less of a bad feeling about him than about the so-called merchant who sailed him there...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? Nah, probably not. I think I've gotten enough of this story hashed out to post the first chapter. One chapter per week! Then I'll vanish again.

The following stories are _very loosely_ based on the School of Dragons expansion packs. The only real similarities are the names of the new characters and places. Also, I'm trying something new with footnotes. Whenever you see a bracketed number, like this (No.), there'll be a note at the end of the story with a nugget of info.

Skin and Bones – Chapter One

On a sea stack under the cold, clear autumnal sky – clear for now, at this time of year the weather could change on a whim – a lone dragon stood. Well, not entirely alone; there _were_ other dragons nearby, fishing or flying just for the joy of it, but they kept a respectful distance. Nor was the dragon himself alone; he was accompanied, as always, by his rider. The Alphas of Berk were hardly ever apart, after all.

For now, none of the villagers had come seeking their aid or advice; their subjects' quarrels were settled and worries assuaged; Astrid had not yet sent word she needed aid with her own duties. The latter was unlikely to happen anyway, even on the best of days. So Toothless and Hiccup had some free time, and Hiccup wanted to use it to practice some new tricks for this years parade.

It wasn't so much a parade, really, as a…demonstration. The riders would take it in turns to show off their skills, sometimes with other dragons of the same kind in tow. Toothless and Hiccup were usually saved for the big finale; given that he was known for his 'dramatic flair', Hiccup was all too fond of ending the parade with a – sometimes literal – bang.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. At the last minute, I'll lock the tail-fin in place and jump – well, it's more of a leap – forwards, and you pull a forward spin underneath me, and I land on the saddle. Got it?"

Toothless sighed. This was just the latest trick Hiccup had come up with, to 'spice up' their routine, as he put it. Inspired by his favourite trick of vaulting over rock arches, he'd taken to using Toothless' own body as an arch. Despite his protestations that the parade was _not_ a competition, deep down Hiccup had just as much of a competitive streak as any other Viking. He just had the goodwill to lose gracefully…usually.

*How am I supposed to do a forward spin if my tail-fin is locked?* he questioned. Toothless made it a point to question all of Hiccup's crazy stunt ideas, in the hopes of leading him away from the more hazardous ones. His human didn't exactly have a death wish, and he was a bit more cautious nowadays, but some of the stunts he suggested would make Toothless' scales start moulting if they actually tried any (1).

"Because I'm going to lock it in the right position for you to spin, of course" Hiccup replied at once. "Let's try it. It'll be fun!"

*Fun. That's what you said about the vertical tumble, and look what happened there?*

"Hey, I didn't know the tail-fin was gonna get stuck. Besides, we landed in the ocean. It hurt a lot less than if we'd crashed on land…and that trick works."

*You threw up afterwards* Toothless deadpanned.

"Okay, so I got a little dizzy, big deal. C'mon, Toothless, please?" he pleaded, leaning over to meet the dragon's reptilian gaze. Toothless stared back evenly. He would not succumb…Hiccup snapped the tail-fin out, and that familiar _swish-click_ made the urge to fly even stronger. The man knew it too, and grinned hopefully. Before he realised, Toothless had gathered himself to leap and soar, out of habit.

 _Might as well get this over with_ he thought resignedly, taking to the air. They cast about for a good tailwind to carry them for this trick. Once they'd found one, Hiccup – who sounded far too gleeful for Toothless' liking – asked "You ready?!"

*As I'll ever be* Toothless replied. First he flew up, as high as he could go in this stream of wind. Then he folded his wings and dived, building speed. They levelled out quite soon; Hiccup flicked the tail-fin into the correct position for a forward spin, engaged the locking mechanism – now for the tricky part. He crouched on Toothless' back, managed to stand up – the wind shoved at him from behind – and leapt...

Forgetting, unfortunately, that he still had the safety lines clipped to his belt. Toothless spun underneath him as planned, so Hiccup was yanked back by the stout ropes, then flipped over to dangle unceremoniously from the saddle. Toothless, without any way to disengage the fin from it's locked position, promptly dropped from the sky.

They managed to right themselves without _too much_ panicked flailing, and regained their course. Hiccup slumped back against Toothless' spines and groaned. "Safety lines. I can't believe…" Toothless unhelpfully chortled at him. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, scaly" Hiccup riposted half-heartedly. He pushed himself up to sit properly in the saddle. "Let's go again."

*Are you sure about this?*

"Yep. Old Viking saying – if your head doesn't break the rock, keep bashing it until it does….I always took it figuratively" Hiccup explained, when Toothless gave him an odd look.

*That explains so much* the Fury deadpanned. *You know, we dragons have a saying too – if you're dumb enough to bash your head on a rock, let's hope the rock wins* (2).

"Ah, funny dragon" Hiccup smirked humourlessly. "Just start climbing, please."

*You're going to fall out of the saddle again, you know that, right?*

* * *

As they dived, Hiccup suggested, *Try spinning a couple of times, whilst you've still got momentum!*

They levelled out once more. Hiccup quickly unclipped the safety lines – there wasn't time to attach them to the saddle, he'd have to leave them loose. Tail-fin in position, locked, crouch on saddle, stand, leap—!

His leading foot came down on the saddle, and he dropped to a crouch again, managing not to lose his balance. "Yes!" Of course, then he got cocky and leapt again – and this time it went wrong. Toothless spun again, but Hiccup didn't leap far enough, and a crosswind knocked him off balance so he landed not on Toothless' back, but on the edge of his wing, just as he was twisting back onto his front…

The long and short of it was that they both plummeted. Hiccup sighed in annoyance. *Don't you dare say 'I told you so'* he warned Toothless, as the black dragon regarded him with muted amusement in those large green eyes. *Okay, I won't say 'I told you so'….whoops*. Toothless gave him a gummy smile. His other half glared at him, and he laughed.

Hiccup got back in the saddle, disengaged the locked tail-fin, and they were back to level gliding in moments. "That could've gone better" he grumbled. "I really need to find a way to let you engage the auto-tail more easily. Wish I could get it to work independently of your fin instead of in tandem, but there's no way to"-

*Is that a ship?*

The question jolted Hiccup out of his annoyed ramble. He followed Toothless' gaze and saw, bobbing in the waves, what certainly looked like a ship. With an opening like that, of course… " _No_ ", he said sarcastically, "It's a Shellfire." He got slapped by Toothless' ear-flap (he was leaning over the dragon's head for a better view) for that, but it was totally worth it. "Let's get a closer look" he decided.

* * *

It was only one ship; not a longship, one of the broad bottomed boats, like the _Crashing Tide II._ Only this one, as far as they could tell, wasn't covered in dragon proof metal. The sail was plain, but they didn't recognise the colours on the flag – red with two crossed white lines. There didn't seem to be anything untoward on deck; just sailors moving around crates, barrels and coils of rope.

"I wonder who these guys are" Hiccup said thoughtfully. They didn't seem to be up to anything, but their ship was pretty clearly heading into Berk's waters, and towards Berk itself… "Maybe they're just passing through. We can't go fire-blasting every strange ship that comes into our waters, after all. Let's see if they're friendly."

Toothless reluctantly dropped lower. As they circled the ship from this closer vantage point, the sentry in the crow's nest spotted them. He called down towards the deck; though they couldn't hear his words over the wind; and then gestured at them, indicating that they should land on deck. Naturally, Toothless balked. He had a strong distaste for boats in general, and didn't like landing on the decks of ships whose owners he knew, let alone on that of a complete stranger.

However, his rider apparently had no such qualms, and adjusted the tail-fin without thinking about it. Toothless nearly fell out of the sky. "Whoa!" *Toothless, what's the matter with you?* Hiccup demanded, as Toothless fought to stay aloft.

*You don't really expect me to go down there, do you?* Toothless demanded. Hiccup looked over his head at the deck; the sailors had cleared a space for them to land, staring up at them in barely concealed alarm. Yet they weren't aiming any weapons or shouting about bringing him and Toothless down… *It seems like they do. Come on, I know you don't like boats, but they're not attacking us. They might just want to talk*.

Toothless was still hesitant. He had a bad feeling about this, and it had nothing to do with his extreme distaste for sea-faring vessels. *I thought you trusted my instincts?*

*I do, but you trust me as well, don't you? It'll be okay, Toothless* Hiccup assured him. So Toothless landed reluctantly, warily, on deck, ready to take off again at a moment's notice. . The crew stared at him cautiously, keeping their distance, except for one man. He was tall and blond, with a neatly groomed goatee. There was a small metal cross hanging from a string around his neck, and a decorative metal guard on his left shoulder.

Perched on that shoulder was a purple Terrible Terror; as he approached the little dragon flew up to Hiccup and Toothless, climbing over the man and sniffing. "Aww, hey little guy" Hiccup smiled, reaching up to pet the little reptile, who snapped at him. "Yikes. Tetchy, aren't we?" he remarked, pressing his unbitten fingers into Toothless' skin to warn the snarling Night Fury away from biting the Terror back.

"Don't mind Leo, he's just taking your measure" the man remarked, as the Terror finished his investigation of Hiccup's armour and saddlebags. "Captain Harald, at your service. Welcome aboard the _Albatross._ To whom do we owe the pleasure?" he asked, offering a hand to shake. The crew didn't seem like they were going to attack, so Hiccup dismounted. "Hiccup Haddock, of the Hooligan tribe" he introduced himself, stepping forwards to shake Harald's hand. "Oh, and this is Toothless" he added, gesturing at his dragon, who was busy giving Harald and his men a death glare. "Don't mind him, he's just overprotective."

"Oh, I know how it is" Harald began, but he was interrupted by an exclamation by someone else on board the ship.

"Hiccup?!"

They both looked over at the man who had cried out. He was brown haired, wearing a cap with two black feathers stuck in it and a wide belt with various pouches hanging from it. He didn't look like a sailor…but for some reason he seemed vaguely familiar. "You're Hiccup Haddock?" he asked, eyes wide, staring at Hiccup. "Stoick's boy?"

Hiccup blinked in surprise; this man knew his father? "Um, yes, Stoick the Vast is my dad" he replied. "I'm sorry, uh, should I know you?"

The man looked embarrassed. "Oh, yes, I suppose you wouldn't remember me, would you? You were only a little boy when I left, and it's been – gosh, seventeen years now? But look at you! Somebody sure had a growth spurt – oh my Thor, your leg!"

"When you left? Left where?"

"Hiccup, it's me, Skulder! I left Berk to explore when you were ten years old" the man finally explained. The pieces clicked into place, and Hiccup's eyes went wide. Then he grinned. "Oh, gosh, I didn't even recognise you!" he exclaimed. "Toothless, this is Skulder, he's an old friend – well, acquaintance - of mine. Skulder, this is my best friend, Toothless."

Skulder goggled at Toothless, open-mouthed. "Is – is that a _Night Fury_? And you're riding him? How? Since when? And what happened to…?" he gestured at Hiccup's metal foot, without taking his eyes off of the dragon. He was reminding Toothless very strongly of Fishlegs. The dragon wasn't sure what to make of the man.

Hiccup chuckled. "Yes, he's a Night Fury. Pretty much everyone on Berk rides dragons nowadays. The war's been over for eleven years, and uh, it's a long story, but I basically lost most of my leg ending the war."

"Really?! I hardly dared hope…and you're the one who ended it? Well, colour me impressed. Captain Harald was kind enough to let me travel here aboard his ship – my own, err, sank, unfortunately. Still, this – this is incredible. All this time…" He trailed off and shook his head, looking dazed.

Harald cleared his throat. "As touching as this reunion is, I have to ask, would it be alright for my ship to dock at your island, sir?" he asked Hiccup.

"Call me Hiccup – and yes, that's fine. Toothless and I'll just go on ahead and let everyone know you're coming. So, uh, where are you from, anyway?"

"My homeland, Denmark" replied Harald, "But we've sailed quite far over the years. Never been this far north though. We're merchants, you see."

"Oh? What do you sell?"

"Mostly fabric; clothes, leather, rugs, that sort of thing" the captain replied with a shrug. "Though I'm afraid we sold the rest of our wares at our last port of call; all these crates are just full of his junk". Here he jabbed a thumb towards Skulder, who spluttered indignantly.

"Captain, it is not junk – it is my life's work!"

"Now, Skulder, I'm only kidding."

"You wouldn't happen to know a Trader Johann, would you?" asked Hiccup (3).

"Name rings a bell. Let's see…brown beard, sack for a cap, never shuts up?"

"That's the one" Hiccup grinned. He swung back into the saddle. "Keep heading on this course until you see a wall of green ice. Don't be alarmed, it's supposed to be there. We'll go give the Chief some advance warning."

"Stoick is still the Chief?" asked Skulder. "I'd have thought – I mean, you look old enough now to have taken over from him…"

"Nah, there was a change of plan" said Hiccup, "I'm not the Chief. I just married her."

* * *

On the way back to Berk, Hiccup inquired, "So what do you think of Skulder?"

*Is he related to Fishlegs?*

Hiccup chuckled. "You know, I think he might be, actually. Second cousins, or something."

Toothless gave a non-committal grunt. *Hiccup, what were you thinking?* he asked more seriously.

"What do you mean?"

*You let your guard down, back there. It's bad enough when you do that around wild dragons…you just shook that man's hand, what if he'd been tricking you?*

"…Well, someone sounds paranoid."

The dragon rumbled. *I'm being _cautious_. You should try it, sometime*.

"Toothless, I can't treat every stranger like they might be an enemy; that's a surefire way to _make_ enemies. They didn't attack us, they let us land on their ship; and the captain doesn't have a problem with dragons. His own dragon seems to like him well enough" Hiccup reasoned, thinking of how the Terror had gone back to Harald's shoulder and stayed there.

*It's a Terror. They adore anyone who gives them free food* Toothless grumbled.

Hiccup sighed. _Stubborn dragon._ "I trust Skulder, and he wouldn't let just anyonesail him to Berk. He might have left, but he was always loyal to our tribe" he insisted.

*Are you sure about that? He's been gone for years, Hiccup – long enough that you forgot about him! Things have changed here. Maybe this 'old friend' of yours has too. Which reminds me; how were the two of you friends? He looks older than you*.

"Nobody has to be friends with people just their own age" Hiccup replied, "and you know, growing up, I never really…" He cleared his throat and explained, "Skulder is seven years older than me. He didn't want to fight dragons – everyone thought he was a coward, but I liked him; I guess because we were both outcasts, in a way. Born into the tribe, but not really part of it…Okay, look. If it makes you feel better, we'll keep an eye on them, but I think you're worrying about nothing. Toothless, it'll be fine. If worse comes to worse, I'm pretty sure all of us can take them on."

The black dragon sighed. Astrid wasn't going to be happy about this, he just knew it…

* * *

It wasn't long after that they reached Berk, the now familiar spires of Urchin's defensive barrier appearing on the horizon. Sentry towers had been built atop the two largest spikes, on either side of the entrance. They flew down to these first. "Hey, guys! Just a heads-up; there's a merchant ship heading this way, red and white flag. There's a familiar face on board; Skulder, remember him? I gave them permission to dock" Hiccup explained to the two watchmen on duty.

They looked at each other across the gap uncertainly. "Does the Chief know about this?" one asked.

"I'm on my way to tell her right now" Hiccup replied, oblivious to the fact that this wasn't what the man had meant. Dragons (and some humans) called out in greeting as they flew over the island, landing in the village square. Several children and hatchlings were there playing a game of tag, including Ebony, Helena and a few kids from the village, including Fishleg's son, Aegir (4).

Aegir's was a tragic tale. They had found the boy adrift at sea, around the time Selena was pregnant with Ebony. He hadn't been able to tell them what had happened to him; at first they thought he was simply too shy, only to realise that he was in fact mute. Fishlegs had taken him in and cared for him whilst they searched for his true family…and then they had found the shipwreck.

Hiccup, Astrid and the others had rescued the survivors stranded on a nearby island, but alas, Aegir's parents were not among them. Both had drowned in the crash, leaving their son stranded in a basket. Fishlegs had comforted the distraught child, and determined then and there that he would be Aegir's new family, if the boy was willing. Despite his grief, Aegir gratefully accepted; he'd been welcomed as part of the tribe ever since.

"Daddy!" Helena squealed in delight, running over as fast as her little four year old legs could carry her. "You're back, back, back! Yay!"

He beamed and heaved her up into his arms. "Hey, baby girl! Yeah, I'm back. Say, is your mummy around?"

"I'm right here, why?" Astrid asked from behind him. Hiccup set Helena down again – she and Ebony nuzzled Toothless before scampering off again – and explained, "You're not gonna believe this. Toothless and I saw this strange ship, and when we went to investigate they let us land on deck, and you'll never guess who was on board. Skulder, remember him? He left Berk when we were kids. He heard the war was over and came back with these merchants, they should be here pretty soon."

Astrid stared at him. Then she took his arm and gently but firmly steered him into the forge, where Gobber was hammering something and pretending not to listen. "Hiccup, let me get this straight. You saw a ship you didn't recognise, crewed by people you don't know, and you decided to give them permission to dock in our harbour…without consulting me first?"

Her tone of voice was beginning to clue Hiccup in to the fact that he'd messed up. "Err…I-I didn't think you'd object…Astrid, come on; we can't treat every stranger we encounter as if they're an enemy, that's just going to make us enemies. Besides, this way we can keep an eye on them" Hiccup defended. Even to his ears, it was starting to sound hollow.

Astrid rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "That's not the point, Hiccup. New ships that want to dock at Berk need to have permission from the Chief first. That's the protocol. It's always been the protocol; or were you not paying attention during those lessons? We've talked about this; you have to do as the chief says, same as everyone else, whether you're the Alpha or not. Just because you got away with disobeying orders when the Chief was your father, doesn't mean you'll get away with it when the Chief is your wife."

"When my dad was Chief, you used to help me disobey orders" Hiccup pointed out, half jokingly. Astrid glared at him. "Okay, okay. Look, I didn't break protocol on purpose…I just forgot. I'm sorry." He gave her a contrite, pleading look. "So can the Chief please not kick her husband out of bed tonight?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. She knew perfectly well that if she did kick him out of bed, he'd quite happily sleep upstairs with Toothless, or go for a midnight flight…she sighed. "The Chief will make a concession because her husband is an idiot. But it'll cost you…"

Hiccup smirked. "Oh. Well. I suppose I'm willing to pay the price…" he murmured, pulling her close.

*People can still see you, you know* Toothless grumbled, spreading a wing to block them from view of any ogling passers-by.

"So, ol' Skully's really back, is he?"

The couple broke their kiss and looked over at Gobber, who had apparently given up on being subtle in his eavesdropping. "Yeah, he is" answered Hiccup. "He looks really different, I didn't even recognise him. He didn't actually recognise me until I said my name" he explained. "He was pretty surprised to see Toothless and hear about the war ending. None of them seemed too bothered by the whole 'dragon riding' thing, though."

"That's another thing" said Astrid, "Hiccup, I don't want you telling them all of our dragon training secrets. We can tell them what happened, why things are…like this", she gestured at the village-cum-nest, "but no showing them the Book of Dragons, and…maybe Selena and Ebony should hide out in the cove whilst they're here."

"Yes, but then Helena would want to hide with them – or with Bunny, rather" Hiccup pointed out. "Astrid, I know you're worried, but really – when has keeping secrets ever got us anything but trouble? We didn't tell Dagur we were training dragons, and when he found out he declared war on us, remember?"

"Of course. I also remember that we told Heather all of our dragon training knowledge, and she took it straight to Savage and Alvin. And I know she was just trying to protect her parents, but…" Astrid blew out a breath. "I just want us to be careful. There are people out there who would take advantage of what we know, if they could."

"You're right" Hiccup sighed, "I'll tell Selena to keep herself and Ebony on the down low. For now, let's just welcome Skulder back to Berk. I'm sure he's looking forward to seeing everyone again…"

* * *

Word spread quickly, naturally, so by the time the _Albatross_ sailed through the gap in the icy ring, pretty much all of Berk was at the docks to see the homecoming of one of their own. There were people who remembered Skulder – including Fishlegs, who was eager to introduce Aegir to his 'uncle' – and the younger generation, who wanted to know who this guy was, and why had he gone away for so long?

When the gangplank dropped, Harald was the first to walk down it. "My, you do know how to host a welcome, don't you? Ah, and you must be the chief of this fine village. A pleasure" he said smoothly, bowing to Astrid. Leo, the Terror on his shoulder, somehow kept his balance and managed not to fall off.

Astrid quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, I am. Astrid Hofferson, pleased to meet you. Welcome to Berk, Captain Harald, was it? I believe there's somebody we know aboard your ship?"

"I'm here!" exclaimed Skulder, clumping down the gangplank. "My word, it is you, Astrid. You look even prettier than you did the last time I saw you; I wouldn't forget a face like that!" he complimented.

In spite of herself, Astrid smiled. "Thank you, Skulder; it's good to see you again. Welcome home" she greeted.

"Thanks. It sure has changed a lot" he remarked, rather obviously, looking around at the ice spires and cave dotted cliffs. Harald gave orders to his bo'sun, who relayed them to the rest of the crew, and they moved off the pier up towards the village proper. Villagers crowded around, trying to get a glimpse of Skulder and Harald.

When they were on level ground once more, Toothless and Stormfly held off the press of curious villagers. They let a few people past though. "Skulder! Where in Thor's name have you been? It's been forever since we've seen or heard from you" Fishlegs scolded him. It took a moment, but then Skulder recognised the portly Viking.

"Fishlegs! It's so good to see you; and yes, I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch. I've just been so busy, and sending a letter is so unreliable…we really do have a lot to catch up on, don't we? I say, who's this?" he inquired, spotting a little brunette head peeking out from behind Fishlegs. "Hello there" he said kindly.

The little boy squeaked and hid. Fishlegs explained, "This is my son, Aegir – well, adopted son, actually. He can't speak, I'm afraid. Come on, now, don't be shy, Aegy. This is your uncle, Skulder" he said encouragingly, stepping aside and denying Aegir a hiding place. The boy blushed crimson, and waved a silent 'hello'.

"Terror!"

Skulder (and Harald, though he hid it better) jumped as a little girl's voice sounded from somewhere around their shins. They looked down at a little blond girl dressed in a blue tunic and leggings with a studded (round studs, not spikes) skirt and a brown coat and boots. She looked up at Leo with her eyes shining. "So cute! Wanna pet him!"

Harald blinked, and then gave a smile (that didn't quite reach his eyes), lifting the Terror off his shoulder. "His name is Leo. And what's your name, little girl?"

Helena gave him a baby-toothed smile. "Helena" she replied, pulling something from her coat pocket. A flake of fish. She held it up to Leo and chirped invitingly. The little dragon chirruped back at her and perched on her arm, delicately licking up the treat with his slender tongue. She beamed and stroked him, scratching between his wings and spines. After a few moments she got bored and handed him back to Harald.

"Aegir!" The little boy jumped. "Let's play hide an' seek" Helena decided, marching over to take his hand and tug him off. Aegir stumbled along helplessly in her wake, looking half nervous, and half relieved to be tugged away from all the grown-ups and the crowd and the dragons and just…everything.

The adults chuckled at the poor boy's predicament, called warnings to the youngsters to keep out of trouble, and moved on (5). It was a lot easier to make their way through the village with a couple of dragons clearing the way. For once Toothless and Hiccup weren't being shown obeisance on all sides; they'd explained they didn't want to overwhelm the guests, so all the dragons without riding partners were keeping their distance for now.

Astrid and Hiccup gave a quick tour and made introductions as they went. Needless to say, Skulder was quite surprised to see Valka, who came over with Stoick to say hello. "I've had a fair few adventures myself, but the things you all must have been up to whilst I was gone…!"

"I sent you letters about all this with Johann, didn't you get them?" asked Fishlegs.

"Well I got one or two, but it's so easy for them to get lost these days. Honestly, you fall out of touch for a few years…"

* * *

At some point, the news of Skulder's return had inevitably resulted in plans to throw a party to celebrate his homecoming. In the Great Hall, Skulder and Harald sat with the chief and her family as guests of honour. Harald's crew had caught up with them, but were scattered around, mingling with the villagers.

"Alright, now you have to tell me what's been going on" Skulder insisted, once food had been eaten and mead drunk. Harald indicated that he was rather curious himself.

So Hiccup described how he and Toothless had met and befriended each other; then Astrid helped explain the events surrounding the nest's discovery and the defeat of the Red Death, ending three hundred years of siege and bloodshed. From there they described how, after six years of peace, they'd encountered Valka and the infamous warlord, Drago Bludvist. Both Harald and Skulder had at least heard of the terrible man; neither were sorry to hear that he'd perished. "Good riddance. From what I gathered, a world under his rule would have been awful" said Skulder.

There were some things the Berkians didn't share, of course. Nobody mentioned anything about the heart bind, or finding more Night Furies, or the war with Adulfr. When Harald asked how they kept all the dragons under control, they explained that Toothless was the pack leader, and worked together with his rider. "Hiccup has a natural affinity for dragons" said Astrid, "and because of his bond with Toothless, they see him as a leader as well. It's why I'm the Chief and he's the Dragon Whisperer."

Skulder asked where all the ice had come from. That was trickier to answer; he and Astrid had argued over whether they should tell their guests about Urchin. Then again, how else could they explain a ring of green-blue ice surrounding the island? Hiccup glanced sidelong at Astrid, who twitched her eyebrows in a pseudo-nod. _Go on._

"Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but…you know how we said Toothless is the pack leader, the Alpha? Well, he earned that status by challenging and defeating another alpha dragon – the Bewilderbeast that Drago had used to control his dragon army. An incredibly rare Tidal Class leviathan. Except, it wound up taking a liking to me, probably because I was the first human to show it kindness.

"It – he – turned up just last year, looking for me…and then never left. Urchin's part of the pack now. He made that ice ring - it's a defensive formation. Made the harbour a lot bigger too. I'd introduce you, but Urchin's really shy, especially with strangers" Hiccup explained.

"Are you telling us there's a Bewilderbeast – as in, a dragon of legend – living here on Berk right now?" Harald demanded. He and Skulder were amazed…though Toothless, watching him closely, noticed that Harald seemed rather anxious underneath, as if he'd heard something he didn't want to hear. "This leviathan of yours isn't going to think we're a threat and attack us, is he?"

"Oh, no. So long as you don't do anything to upset him, he'll barely notice you're here" replied Hiccup. Harald visibly relaxed. Skulder, on the other hand, looked more excited than ever.

"This is incredible, simply marvellous. I don't suppose – I would like to see this Bewilderbeast, if possible, get some notes. I really am glad I came back – how fitting, that Berk should be the perfect place to build it!" he declared enthusiastically.

"The perfect place to build what?" asked Fishlegs.

Before Skulder could explain, there came the sound of boots running on stone, and two raspy shouts of "DRAGON HUNTERS!"

* * *

(1) Dragons shed their scales when they're young and still growing, but they often also shed them in times of stress. It's the draconic equivalent of a human's hair falling out or going grey due to stress.

(2) The dragons whose skulls were strong enough to actually break rocks never failed to be amused by human's believing that their egg like heads could do so as well.

(3) In the HBS continuity, the ending of RTTE S6 is not a thing.

(4) Now mentioned in passing in This Is Berk.

(5) Their parents knew that Selena was keeping an eye on them. The Vikings of Berk had a rather 'hands-off, free range' approach to raising their kids anyway, and the Alphas has made it explicitly clear that harming children would _not_ be tolerated.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

A/N: Replies to guest reviews. First reviewer – I got Skulder's name from School of Dragons, and I don't think it's meant to be a mashup of Mulder and Scully – but you never know!

Second reviewer – glad to be back!

Third reviewer – thanks for the review, glad you like the footnotes :D

Skin and Bones – Chapter Two

"DRAGON HUNTERS!"

At this damning proclamation, a reaction rippled all across the Great Hall. Heads came up, tankards were dropped from startled hands, dragons nearby flinched away in alarm. The riders leapt to their feet, knocking back benches and reaching for weapons. Ruff and Tuff, who had exclaimed in the first place, continued pointing their fingers accusingly at Harald and Skulder. "J'accuse! Lying filth!" Tuffnut shouted right in Harald's face, who stared at him in alarm and bewilderment.

"What in the name of Thor are you two yelling about?" Astrid demanded impatiently. Honestly, she should have known the now conspicuous absence of the twins was a hint that something was amiss. "There are dragon hunters? Where? How many?"

"Slow down, we can't answer so many questions at once, A – I mean, Chief" Tuffnut corrected himself hastily at her glare. Then his sister explained, "Duh, they're right here! _These guys_ are dragon hunters!"

All eyes were on Harald and Skulder in moments. The latter rambled nervously, "You – we're not – I wouldn't – t-there must be some mistake!"

Harald's expression of alarm smoothed into a neutral stare. "We are not dragon hunters. We are merchants; of fabrics, if you must know. Leathers. Tapestries, clothes, sometimes armour... Where in the world did you get the impression my crew and I were dragon hunters?"

"Oh, yeah?" Ruffnut got right up in his face, but backed up quickly when Leopold screeched at her. "Alright, mister, if you're a fabric merchant, then where are all your fabrics? Huh? How come the only thing we found in those crates were _dragon bones_?"

"We sold our wares at the last…Wait a minute, how do you know about all this? Have you been on my ship?" Harald demanded, clearly furious.

Ruffnut, naturally, was oblivious to this.

"Yes, and I've gotta say, I don't like the cut of your jib! And your mainsail isn't much better; plain canvas, I mean really?"

Suddenly, Skulder gasped, eyes wide. "My specimens!" he cried, tearing out of the Hall. Harald was hot on his heels, and the rest of them weren't too far behind either. They sprinted through the village down to the docks; one to check on his precious cargo, and one to check on his ship. Damn it all, hadn't the bo'sun thought to leave a guard? If those two had found anything more than a few old bones…

Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs caught up first. They found Skulder checking the crates on deck and Harald amongst the rigging, checking it and the sails for any sign of sabotage. "I don't think the twins will have damaged anything on purpose" Astrid called to him, "they're odd, but they're not as dumb as they seem. And they're not malicious."

He spun on his heel and strode over to the side of the ship, looking down over it at them. "Why would they even come on board? Does this happen to every innocent sailor who weighs anchor in your waters?" he demanded angrily.

Astrid gave a long-suffering sigh and replied, "Captain Harald, there are two things you need to know about life here on Berk. The first is not to question the twins. Nobody knows why they do anything, not even themselves. They probably saw your ship, thought 'ooh, shiny new thing!' and decided to take matters into their own hands." She paused, and then added, "Berk will cover the costs of anything they might have damaged accidentally. We can probably replace it ourselves, if needs be." Oh, she was going to have _words_ with those two…

Harald looked at least a little mollified. "Glad to hear it…still, it doesn't look like anything's been too disturbed. Unless they've messed with Skulder's specimens" he remarked.

Skulder mopped his brow and came over to stand beside Harald, looking relieved. "They'd opened one of the crates, but nothing else has been disturbed. They must have taken one look at the contents and jumped to the wrong conclusion" he deduced.

"Yeah, they do that" Hiccup agreed. Then his curiosity got the better of him. "Skulder? What were you saying about specimens?"

"Ooh, specimens of what?" Fishlegs couldn't help but ask.

"Bones!"

Everyone jumped. The twins had appeared, with their uncanny knack for turning up at inopportune times and places. Ruffnut folded her arms and insisted, "We saw what we saw. A crate with a dragon skull in it. Bet you thought you were clever, huh?" she sneered at Skulder, "wrapping the skull up and burying it in sand, like that'd hide it?"

"You _monster_ " Tuffnut glared at Skulder, "What did that poor dragon ever do to you?"

"The iniquity!"

"The cruelty!"

"That's what _I_ said!"

"Okay, that's it! You two", Astrid glared pointedly at the twins, "are going to apologise to captain Harald and Skulder for _trespassing_ and _vandalising_ , or _else_."

It was, of course, Tuffnut who asked "Or else what?" The next thing he knew, his neck was encircled by the curve of Astrid's trusty axe. The look in her eyes didn't bode well if he decided to press his luck, and for once, his meagre self-preservation instincts kicked in. "Uh…right. That 'or else'. Alright, alright, we're sorry. Happy now?" he huffed, stepping back away from Astrid's reach.

"Yeah, we're really sorry" Ruffnut nodded hastily, "now can we please get back to busting these guys for being dragon hunters?"

Skulder and Harald began to protest, loudly, that they _weren't_ dragon hunters. "Then would you mind telling us just _why_ you have crates full of dragon bones aboard that ship?" Astrid inquired.

With the air of someone who had explained this far too many times to far too many people, Skulder replied, "Because I _collect_ them. For study, not some macabre…well, it _is_ , I suppose, but – look, I didn't kill that dragon. I bought all these skeletons from…well, from hunters…" He had the decency to look ashamed. "They'd have just been thrown in a pit otherwise. I was going to explain all this, I swear."

For a moment or two, the only sound was the waves. Astrid broke the awkward silence first. "You…collect dragon bones."

"I study them. Like Bork the Bold…not just dragons either, there are all sorts of...the point is, I simply have too many specimens now to be lugging them around on my own. These crates contain just a few skeletons between them, and I had to replace them recently after my last ship ran aground. I'm very grateful for Captain Harald's kindness in offering to sail me here" Skulder admitted.

"Oh, it was no trouble, really" Harald replied nonchalantly, "Any reason to go to new frontiers. I'm actually quite glad we came here and met you all" he remarked, looking at Hiccup in particular in a way that reminded a wary Toothless of a predator eyeing their prey.

"Ohh…so you want to build somewhere to store your collection?" guessed Fishlegs.

"Not just store, display. I want to build a museum; Skulder's Museum of Cryptids!" he declared, spreading his hands out as if holding up an imaginary banner. He cleared his throat and said sheepishly, "I, ah, need to work on the name."

"Cryptids?"

"Just a little term I coined" he said modestly. "I got it from 'cryptic' – you know, mysterious, dangerous, misunderstood…dragons are the most numerous and varied kind of cryptid, but there are other creatures out there..." Skulder gestured at the ship and inquired, "Would you like to come and see? Although, your dragons – I'm afraid they might want to wait out here" he said apologetically. Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and the twins shared a look, and one thought. _Why not?_ Their dragons stayed behind – one more reluctantly than the others – as they followed Skulder and Harald below deck.

* * *

Down in the cargo hold was Skulder's collection – papers, squicky looking things preserved in jars, books, things in crates or swaddled in cloth. It looked half like the deck of Trader Johann's ship and half like an alchemist's storeroom.

"I fear I have a lot of explaining to do" said Skulder, facing the others. "Now, you already know that I never thought of myself as much of a warrior, especially against giant fire-breathing reptiles…but I still wanted, in my own way, to help turn the tide of the war. I'm sure many people think I left out of cowardice. The truth is that I sought to investigate dragons, in some futile hope I could find something, anything, that could be used against them. The old saying 'know your enemy' and all that. I always did admire Bork…

"So I sailed, with a few friends, right out of the archipelago. Such a large and frightening world it was…but right from the beginning, I noticed something odd. The dragons out there…didn't act anything like the ones we had been fighting back on Berk. Oh sure, villages got raided now and again, but not over and over. They seemed content to leave us be so long as we didn't provoke them…alas, we lost Clueless that way. You've no idea how relieved I was to see that Speedifist, Heyral and Wartihog had made it back, when they decided to return to Berk all those years ago. I had feared…" he trailed off, a dark look on his face.

"If you were worried about them, why didn't you follow them back to Berk? Or send a message to them?" inquired Astrid. She wasn't being accusatory, she just genuinely wanted to know.

Skulder gave her a sheepish grin. "Well, it was partly that sending a message is so unreliable, and partly because…okay, I admit, I am _terrible_ when it comes to staying in touch. Especially when I have my mind set on something." He began to pace back and forth, agitated. "You see, I still wanted to learn all I could about dragons, but over time it went from trying to find a weakness, to just studying them in general. They were – they _are_ – such fascinating creatures."

Astrid raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, this sounds familiar. Hiccup, are you sure Skulder isn't part of your family tree as well?" she asked jokingly. He rolled his eyes at her.

"No, _they're_ not related. Hiccup and Snotlout are, though" Tuffnut announced out of nowhere. Everyone stared at him. Oblivious, he mused "Although, I suppose if you go back far enough, all of us are related. Really, really distant relationships, but still. We're all one big happy family" he beamed. "…What?"

"What makes you think Snotlout and I are related?" Hiccup demanded. In all honesty he'd known, vaguely, that there was some kind of family tie between his father and Spitelout…one he'd never cared to look at all too closely. In fairness, the feeling was probably mutual.

"And what do you mean, we're all related?" inquired Astrid.

"Elementary, your Chiefliness" Ruffnut declared, throwing an arm around Astrid's shoulders. Astrid promptly twisted out of her grip. "Think about it. We're a small tribe, living on a small island, and for the past six generations at least, we haven't been able to _leave_ said island. Dragon raids, remember? Kind of hard to mix and mingle when you're fighting for your lives. Pretty much every family on Berk has a few family ties to at least one or two of the other families on Berk."

"For instance, in your case Hiccup" Tuffnut picked up the thread, "Your, ah, paternal grandmother, that's your dad's mom, actually married into the Haddock family from House Jorgenson, and her brother went on to father Spitelout, poor guy, which makes her Snotlout's great-aunt and you his second cousin (1). Skulder is the grandson of Fishleg's great-aunt, which makes _them_ second cousins. Also, did you know that your great-grandfather was Hamish II's brother? (2) Which means that Hamish is actually your great-great uncle…and Snotlout's too, I think. It gets confusing after a while, but really, it's quite fascinating."

There was a long, stunned silence. Fishlegs was the first to break it. "I don't know what's more disturbing; the idea that Hiccup and Snotlout are related, or the fact that everything the twins just said made _complete sense_."

Hiccup couldn't help but ask, "Tuff, how do you even know all of this?"

"You guys always forget I studied under the village officiator, don't you? At least until he jumped off that cliff…I've seen the tribe's genealogy records. That means family trees" he added to Astrid.

"I know that" she snapped. "Now hold up, if our family trees are overlapping – then how are _we_ related?" she demanded, gesturing between herself and Hiccup.

"Uh…by marriage?"

"I mean, how do our family trees overlap?"

"Does that really matter?" asked Hiccup. "We already know we're not closely related, not enough for it to matter that we've married and had a baby. I mean, what, are you gonna divorce me if we turn out to be, I dunno, fifth cousins twice removed or something?" he asked jokingly.

Astrid realised then that she was probably overreacting. "No…you're right, it doesn't matter. On second thoughts, Tuffnut, I don't want to know."

He gave her a pitying look and said, "There, there, Astrid. Don't worry, your old uncle Tuffnut will explain everything…I'm not really your uncle, though. Just to be clear."

She glared at him. " _Just to be clear,_ one, I am your Chief. Two, I'm a year older than you. Do _not_ patronise me. And I just said I don't want to know how mine and Hiccup's families overlap!"

"Okay, okay. I was just going to tell you that the Hofferson clan originally came to the island from the Meathead tribe – we did mix and mingle a _bit_ back in the day…buuuut that's all I'll tell you for now."

"Huh" said Ruffnut. "Weird. You'd think Snotlout would be the Meathead." Her unintentional joke (if it _was_ unintentional) had them all chuckling, even Skulder. Harald, on the other hand, seemed rather bored. He'd already heard Skulder's tale, and the diversion to family trees didn't hold his interest. He cleared his throat pointedly.

* * *

"Heh. _Ahem._ Um, sorry about that, Skulder" Hiccup said apologetically, once he'd caught his breath. "Uh, you were saying?"

"He was going to tell us why he has all these gross-but-cool dead things lying around" Tuffnut announced.

Skulder harrumphed at him and straightened his clothes. "Quite. As I was saying, I began to form an interest in dragons for their own sake…at a, err, safe remove, of course. I'd read the Book of Dragons, I knew Bork had copious notes on them, but it still seemed like knowledge was missing, you see. I wanted to know more about…about their inner workings, how they ticked. Unfortunately, the only way to study that was to…" Skulder had the decency to look abashed. "Well, I'm sure you can guess."

Hiccup felt his skin crawl. He looked around, feeling cornered, and hesitantly inquired, "So…what's in all the jars? More bones?" There were indeed many large clay jars dotted around, each topped with a carving of dragon heads and marked with symbols carved on the side.

"Ah, no, those are canopic jars. I took the idea from the Ancient Egyptians. A lost civilisation from a faraway land, they mummified their dead and used these jars to preserve the, ah, vital organs. The heart, liver and so on…" Skulder explained. "They believed that the spirits of their dead would need their earthly bodies in the afterlife, so they couldn't be allowed to rot."

"So, the jars are full of…?" Hiccup eyed one jar with a Nadder carving atop it and a sketch of a heart in the side, and felt a bit queasy.

Skulder nodded, and said apologetically, "I'm afraid so. I know it's not the most pleasant of topics…" He looked Hiccup in the eye and insisted, "You must believe me, I never intended harm on dragons; having to turn to, to hunters for means to study them was _not_ my idea of a good time, and I made it clear that I didn't agree with" –

Hiccup held up a hand. "Skulder, I – I understand what you were trying to do" he admitted, frowning. "It's disturbing, but I do understand. That's not what bothers me. Whether you meant to or not, you bought dragons – dead dragons – from hunters. You gave them business, and a reason to keep slaying dragons. You've been studying the bodies of…murder victims" he swallowed. Skulder's eyes widened, as if he hadn't thought of it that way before. "Still…I'm sure your studies could be useful…somehow."

"Hiccup's right. I mean, I don't _like_ the idea of cutting up a dragon corpse" Fishlegs shuddered, "but if it's for research...? Besides, Bork was more interested in dragon behaviour and their outward physical traits – claws, fangs, fire, venom. What they'd use to attack us. He didn't really have much to say about what was going on inside them. Skulder, your notes could further our understanding of dragons so much; and maybe we can use that knowledge to help them."

For the first time since they'd come below deck, Skulder smiled. "Really? Because I've learned some fascinating things. Nothing new, I'm sure, but in any case…oh, Harald, would you mind giving me a hand? Ah, thank you." With the other man's help, he hefted a long bone wrapped in cloth onto the 'table' formed by several stacked crates. Skulder unwrapped it with great care, revealing a femur that was almost as long as Hiccup was tall. Oddly enough, it was only half of the bone, split lengthways down the middle.

"This is from a Deadly Nadder, but the species isn't really important. Now, there's a narrow cavity in the centre here where the marrow would have been, but what's really interesting is what's around it. You see? A triangular lattice (3)." Skulder pointed out the inside of the bone, which was filled with an almost web like maze of small holes. Looking closer, it was clear that the holes were gaps between triangles, interlocking and interweaving like the reeds of a basket.

"Wooow" Tuffnut drawled… "I don't get it."

"Me neither. Come on, bro, let's get out of here before they go all dragon geek on us" Ruffnut declared. She and Tuffnut made a break for it, but Astrid blocked their path.

"Hold it! You two are forbidden to come aboard or go below deck on this ship, and if you're leaving, then you're going to tell everyone that your accusation was a mistake and that Skulder isn't a dragon hunter."

There was a pause, and then Tuffnut pointed back at Harald. "What about him?"

"Yes, him too! Oh, just go already" she sighed, exasperated. Once they'd left, she looked back at the bone and asked, "So, um, what _is_ so special about these tiny little triangles?"

Hiccup explained, "A triangle is the strongest flat shape. It's naturally rigid, you see. Oh, I get it" he brightened, "the hollows and gaps in the bone make it light, but the triangular lattice makes the bone tough and strong…and less likely to break on impact."

"Exactly!" Skulder enthused, "which explains how dragons are able to fly despite their size, and still pick themselves up after a crash. Their bones are natural shock absorbers!"

"I never thought to look _inside_ their bones" Fishlegs remarked. "Skulder, this is fascinating! Kind of morbid, but fascinating nonetheless. We should compare your notes to ours and Bork's, see if there are any gaps."

"Well, like I said, I have notes and specimens of more than just dragons. For the past few decades, I've dedicated my life to the study of cryptids" Skulder announced, with a non-too-small note of pride in his voice. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Oh! Wait, wait, wait, there's something...blast it, where did I…aha! Here it is. Now _this,_ this is something truly extraordinary."

Skulder held up a long, scarlet case with golden filigree. Leo flew down and sniffed at the case, until Skulder shooed him away. He unlocked it with one of the keys hanging from a string around his neck, and opened to reveal… a single feather, the size of an eagle's; at the bottom of the shaft it was a bright tangerine, merging seamlessly to ruby tones. It shone – it really, truly glowed – with a fire-like light. They could even see little flickers and whorls dance across the barbs, as if the feather itself was made of flame. Everyone except Harald stared at it, entranced. "It's beautiful…" Astrid murmured.

He smiled. "It is indeed, isn't it? There's quite the story behind this – for another time, I think – but for now, let's just say that this was a gift from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX himself. It is a feather shed from the wing of his tame phoenix" Skulder revealed.

"That…that's a _phoenix_ feather?! As in, the legendary immortal bird of fire, phoenix? And you've met someone who owns one for a _pet?_ " If Fishleg's eyes got any wider, they'd be in danger of falling out of his skull. Hiccup was equally delighted. Talk of studying dragon corpses made him uneasy but _this_ was something he could get genuinely excited about. A _phoenix feather!_

"When you're an emperor, you can get away with having rare, mystical birds as pets. You should see the rest of his menagerie. His phoenix is named Aionios; it means 'everlasting'." Skulder closed the case again and cleared his throat. "Forgive me. I just wanted to show you that not everything I dabble in is so…so disturbing. I know all of this must be of little interest to you, but…"

"No, no…it's not that this isn't, err, interesting, it's just…well, you said it yourself. I don't know…I need to think about this. I'm not saying having a museum dedicated to dragons – and err, anything else you've studied – is a bad idea, but most of… _this…_ " he gestured at all the canopic jars and wrapped up bones. "Probably couldn't go in it. I'm sorry, Skulder, but I need to put our dragons first, and they're probably not going to be on board with this idea."

Skulder gave a solemn nod. "I understand. Thank you, for giving me a chance. I really do appreciate the welcome home" he said, smiling gratefully at both Astrid and Hiccup.

* * *

With that, Hiccup decided he had had enough. Being surrounded by the bones and organs of murdered dragons…he could tell Skulder hadn't meant any harm, but he was regretting agreeing to come down here. He moved back towards the ladder up to the deck, saying "I'm just going to go and…" he gave Astrid a look that meant _check on our daughter who's inherited my inability to stay put._

She nodded and declared, "Oh, yeah, me too. Lots to do…I have to prepare for Dagur's arrival tomorrow. You're attending the treaty signing, by the way" she told her husband pointedly. He smiled good-naturedly and replied, "Yes dear, whatever you like." Then he dodged a punch aimed at his shoulder. Ah, they knew each other too well.

They all emerged from below deck; Harald's crew were there, trying to look as if they were doing something useful. He gave them a disgusted glare and snapped "Bo'sun!" The man in question snapped to attention. "I want a word" Harald warned, before turning to Skulder and Fishlegs. Hiccup and Astrid had already gone to their dragons and mounted off. "I'll see to it that your specimens are well guarded, Skulder. It's quite a collection you have here, after all…it would be a shame if anything were to happen to it."

"Oh, yes. Quite. Thank you, captain" Skulder said gratefully. He and Fishlegs left the ship and trudged up towards the village proper, Meatlug waddling behind them. Skulder sighed in a resigned sort of way. "He's not really interested in my work. He just wants to get all this 'unwanted cargo' off his ship and get back on course. I suppose I can't blame him really; I have made him and his crew go miles out of their way. They don't normally travel this far north, you see."

Fishlegs frowned. "If he's not interested in what you do, then why did he offer to bring you here?"

"Well, it was sort of out of the blue" Skulder admitted. "I couldn't afford a ship of my own, sadly, so I was trying to find someone to bring me here. He heard I was wanting to go north and offered to sail me here from Iceland on the spot. Did it for practically nothing."

* * *

They found Helena and Aegir with Ebony and Selena, the three youngsters asleep under her wing. After taking them back home, and making one more circuit of the island to be sure none of their subjects were panicking about dragon hunters, Hiccup and Toothless returned home and Hiccup began fixing dinner for when Astrid came home.

*So he did have dragon bones?* asked Toothless, eyeing the slab of mutton Hiccup was using in a stew. True, he preferred fish, but he wouldn't turn down a nice, juicy piece of…Hiccup slipped him a chunk surreptitiously. It was a good thing Astrid wasn't present.

"Yeah. He's been studying them, he said; he bought the bodies from hunters and added them to his, uh, collection" Hiccup explained. He grimaced. "I did point out what was wrong with that."

*You mean, everything?* Toothless shuddered. *He collects dragon bones. Isn't that sort of strange?* The only kind of humans he knew of that would keep dragon bones like that were hunters, and the ones that wanted to look impressive, like Dagur before he – well, _before_ pretty much summed it up.

"Well, yeah, but he's always been like this. I went into his house once as a kid and there were a load of insects pinned to cards on his bedroom wall. He's a collector…a really weird, morbid collector. I doubt he means any harm by this; he probably didn't think he was hurting anyone. It's not like he knew you guys are people too."

Toothless rumbled uneasily. *I still don't like this. What if he decides he wants to add another dragon to his collection? Such as a rare Night Fury?* he suggested cautiously. Hiccup reached over to run a hand back across his head. "Don't worry, bud, that's not going to happen. Skulder is a lot of things, but he's not a dragon killer. He looked like he'd seen a ghost when I said he'd been studying murder victims."

Hiccup groaned a bit. "I don't know what to do…I mean, I like the thought of a museum dedicated to dragons; but it just seems wrong to fill it with dragon skeletons. Especially if the skeletons are from dragons who were hunted. A museum would help people learn about you and get them interested; but you're not just specimens to be studied, you're people too; but this could help human people see th"-

*Hiccup?*

"Yes?"

*What is a museum, anyway?*

"Oh, it's…it's a place where we put things from our history, so younger generations can see them and learn from them" Hiccup explained (4). "The Meathead tribe has one dedicated to themselves, and a library. Although, their museum is just one big room and the library is a bookshelf at the far end" he admitted with a wry grin.

*So this friend of yours wants to make a museum and fill it with things about dragons?*

"Well, he says he's been studying other creatures – cryptids, he called them. I…I kind of want to hear more about those, to be honest. I mean, he has a phoenix feather with him. Do you have any idea how incredible that is?!"

*It's just a bird, isn't it?*

"Just a-!" Hiccup spluttered, before catching sight of the mischievous gleam in Toothless' eyes and realising he was being teased. "Ha, ha _._ "

*Well, he can put all this other stuff in a 'museum' – but the skeletons have to go. Our subjects won't want the bones of their kin shown off like mating trophies; some of them might rebel, and then things will get broken and people might get hurt* Toothless said decisively.

Hiccup sighed. "You're right. I'll tell him tomorrow" he agreed.

*Good. Now what are we going to about the rest of them?*

"Rest of who?"

*The people this old friend of yours came here with. I don't like them; especially not that captain and the Biter.*

"Leo hasn't done anything to you."

*He's weird, Hiccup. The other Biters told me, he won't talk to them, at all.*

"Well, he's probably just shy. Why exactly do you think they're up to no good?" Hiccup inquired.

*It's their captain. He looks at us like we're prey, like he's hunting us* Toothless insisted, *And he…reminds me of someone. Someone bad. I'm just…not sure who* he admitted. It was right there, like a faded scent he couldn't quite track. He just had this feeling…

"Toothless, I think you're being paranoid. Harald and his crew are traders, merchants. You've seen their ship, they don't have any net traps or cages. They couldn't hunt dragons even if they wanted to."

*They have crossbows. I saw them.*

"That doesn't…look, not everyone who uses crossbows are dragon hunters. Dagur's armada uses crossbows and they don't hunt you guys; heck, we have people here on Berk who use crossbows."

*Hiccup, I'm telling you, there's something off about them. You should trust my instincts – when have they ever been wrong?*

"Never" Hiccup shook his head, and looked his other half in the eye. "Toothless, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that we can't accuse Harald of anything, much less of being a dragon hunter, without proof. Unfortunately, saying 'I think you're up to no good because my dragon is getting bad vibes from you' isn't going to cut it, I'm afraid."

Toothless slumped. It made sense, he supposed, but it was still annoying. *So what _are_ we going to do?*

"We'll keep an eye on them, we wait, and if they do something suspicious then we'll call them out on it. Don't worry, bud; after tomorrow, Harald and his crew will leave to get back to their own trade routes, and we'll not have to think about them again."

* * *

(1) You don't have to be a genealogist to know that family trees can get confusing as heck. If I've got this wrong, just let me know.

(2) Chuckheart, a portmanteau of the names of Hiccup II's human brothers from the books, Chucklehead and Thugheart. It was either that or Thughead...

(3) Part of my 'how dragons work' headcanon. If you want an idea of how I picture the inside of their bones to look: .

(4) I know they didn't have museums back then. It's… artistic license.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

A/N: So, two things. One, it's my birthday on Monday. Yay me! And two… SEASON SIX OF RTTE IS COMING NEXT FRIDAY!

Skin and Bones – Chapter Three

After dinner, Hiccup discussed Skulder's 'cryptid museum' with Astrid. She could see the appeal in it, but mostly she agreed with Toothless; the skeletons would make their resident dragons uncomfortable. "I had to reassure Stormfly she wasn't going to be 'studied' as well. Besides, it might give the wrong impression."

This was true; displaying skeletons of dragons could be taken in many ways and few of them were good. Still, it seemed to Hiccup that the biggest problem was that their dragons wouldn't like it. He was willing to compromise for the sake of the pack, but he wondered if there _was_ a way for Skulder to have his museum. It didn't necessarily have to be on Berk, after all.

Early the next day, Toothless and Hiccup returned from their morning flight and went to Fishlegs' house. He'd been letting Skulder stay there, whilst Harald and his crew had slept aboard their ship. Hiccup knocked on the door, ready to ask Fishlegs if Skulder was awake, but it was the latter who opened the door.

"Oh, good morning, Hiccup. Uh, Fishlegs is still asleep, I'm afraid."

"Should've figured. No, I actually came to see you. Can uh, can we talk?" asked Hiccup. Skulder hesitated, and then nodded.

They strolled through the village, Toothless padding faithfully at Hiccup's side. "I've been thinking about your idea to build a museum here on Berk. To be honest I've always wanted a museum, and one for dragons would be even better…but it won't work if you fill it with these skeletons you have. I don't think you can build the museum here on Berk. I'm sorry" said Hiccup.

Skulder sighed, clearly disappointed. "I see…the skeletons really are a deal-breaker, aren't they?" He sighed. "When you said I'd been studying murder victims…I honestly never thought of it like that. I knew the specimens – sorry, it's so easy to get detached – I knew that the dead dragons I was studying had been hunted, but I never took the time to think of them as…well, living."

"Dragons aren't like other animals, Skulder. They're more like us than we know. They can think, they have feelings and dreams, they even reason a bit. In their own way, they're people. When you look them in the eye; really, really _look_ ; you see that."

Hiccup explained, "If you built a museum here and filled it with dragon skeletons, the dragons living here won't like it. They might protest, break the exhibits…Toothless and I could stop them, but then we'd be putting your needs above theirs. It wouldn't be fair. Besides, Astrid pointed out that displaying dragon skeletons could easily be taken the wrong way; that, and we don't really have room to put a museum anywhere. We're practically hanging off cliff edges as it is."

"I understand. I can't say I'm not disappointed, though."

"Well, this sort of thing isn't easy to decide. Although…having said that, I think I know a way you can have your museum after all."

"Really? How?"

"I know the chief of a tribe in Iceland. He might be willing to let you build your museum there, and I can think of someone who might run it for you, if you wanted to stay here on Berk. Last time I was there, they decided they didn't want live dragons in their town, but they shouldn't have a problem with, uh, dead ones, so to speak." Hiccup shrugged, and added "I can't make any promises though."

Skulder nodded. "I appreciate the thought all the same. How did you end up knowing a chief from Iceland? Quite a coincidence you should mention it, actually; that's where I met Captain Harald. In a tavern, some place called, err…Smoking Bay, I think. Is something wrong?" he asked, noticing Hiccup staring at him in surprise.

"No, it's just…that is quite a coincidence. Smoking Bay is the tribe – the town – I'm talking about. As for how I know Chief Ragnar…his tribe joined forces with the remnants of Drago's army. They waged war against Berk a couple of years ago. Well, against me, really" Hiccup admitted, resignedly.

"You? But why would -?"

"They thought I controlled dragons. That I'd go the same way as Drago, only instead of conquering dragons to liberate humans, I'd be conquering humans to liberate dragons. Of course, Drago didn't really want to 'liberate' anyone. The point is, towards the end of the war we reached out to any of the tribe leaders willing to listen. Ragnar was one of them. He came around once he realised that I wasn't actually a power-mad wannabe Dragon Lord."

If Skulder's eyebrows were any higher, they'd be off his face. "Did they honestly think you were going to be the next Drago Bludvist? Surely not. Didn't they know you're the one who defeated him?"

"No, they did, but that was me 'taking out my biggest rival'. Just like going home afterwards, getting married and living with my family was me 'biding my time'" Hiccup explained. They both chuckled. "Astrid's right. There are enough unpleasant rumours floating around about me as it is. If we display dragon skeletons in a museum then they'll think I'm secretly a dragon hunter, or in league with them…Oh, who am I kidding, they probably already think that."

Skulder shook his head disbelievingly. "People will believe almost anything if they're afraid. So…I take it this means you _don't_ control dragons…?"

Hiccup groaned. "Skulder…"

He put his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. It's just…well, I've never seen anywhere that had tamed dragons before. I've been to a few places where the locals worshipped dragons, towards the east, but they didn't ride them. I…can you really blame me for wondering how you keep them under your sway?"

"It's pretty easy – they like me. It's all about trust, and respect and…look, maybe it's easier if I just show you" Hiccup decided. By now they'd walked through the village and were standing on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Hiccup motioned for Toothless to move around in front of them, and gave him the 'battle ready' signal. Toothless spread his wings and bared his fangs, snarling.

Skulder took a step backwards, alarmed, but Hiccup held a hand up. "You remember my story yesterday? I said I earned Toothless' trust, and it started like this. I dropped my weapon", he unsheathed his dagger and tossed it onto the grass, "to show him he could trust me. Then I proved I trusted him too."

He turned his head away, reached out with his hand…and smiled as, moments later, he felt a familiar smooth snout press into his palm. Opening his eyes, Hiccup looked at Toothless, who gazed at him with a wide, adoring gaze… *I'll play along, but you owe me cod for this*.

Hiccup suppressed a chuckle. "Well, that's the basic version anyway. Your turn" he said, turning to Skulder. The man's expression went from amazed to alarmed in the blink of an eye.

"M-my turn…?"

"Yes, your turn. Here, give me your hand" said Hiccup, standing between Skulder and Toothless. Hesitantly, the other man allowed Hiccup to take his wrist and bring his hand within a few inches of Toothless' nose. The dragon gave his rider a long suffering glance, and then sniffed at Skulder's palm. It smelled of the furs he'd been sleeping on, wood and bone beneath that, and nervousness; but nothing too suspicious or unnerving.

He closed his eyes and let Skulder's hand rest on his muzzle. Hiccup let go of the man's wrist and grinned at him. "Great feeling, isn't it?" he asked. Skulder's eyes were wide; he nodded, dumbfounded.

"It's…extraordinary" he murmured, daring to run his hand up towards Toothless' crown. "But…surely this wouldn't work on a wild dragon."

"Toothless was wild when I first met him and it worked on him" Hiccup shrugged, retrieving his knife.

"…Fair point."

"Besides, saying that they're 'tamed' is kind of misleading. They're not pets. They're people, and you can't tame a person, can you? We made peace with them, and now they live alongside us, help us ride them. I hope that in time, we won't be the only ones."

*Can we go flying now?*

*Do you mind if we bring Skulder along?*

*Do I still get cod?*

*Yes, you still get cod.*

*Alright. I like this scratching though. Scratching is good.*

*One track mind, you have.* "You want a ride?" Hiccup asked Skulder, who jumped.

"What?"

"Do you want a ride? On Toothless. In the sky." Hiccup pointed. "Up there?"

"You - _really_?"

"Oh, sure. Toothless loves giving people rides, don't you bud?"

*No I don't.*

Hiccup smirked. "Hey, Skulder. Scratch him under the chin, he loves that even more" he suggested, "Here, watch." Before Toothless could pull away, he reached out and scratched the sensitive underside of the dragon's jaw, fingers skirting around and ghosting over the pressure point that could collapse his dragon into a heap. Toothless purred involuntarily, eyes rolling closed in bliss. "See?"

Skulder hesitantly reached out and scratched Toothless under the jaw as well. The dragon moaned. "Is he alright?"

"Oh, he's fine. Like I said, he'd be happy to give you a ride."

*You are _cruel._ I am going to eat my cod and then I am going to sick it up onto you* Toothless warned him, pulling away and shaking himself vigorously. He jerked his head towards his saddle with an impatient snort; Hiccup grinned and mounted up. He patted the saddle invitingly and Skulder, with some hesitation, climbed up behind him. Moments later, they were in the air.

* * *

Skulder gasped and clung tighter as his stomach – and most of his other organs – were left behind. "W-we're not going to go _too_ high, a-are we?"

"Higher the better!" Hiccup called back. They kept climbing, higher and higher, and eventually levelled out… "Hey, you wanna loosen up your grip there a lil' bit?"

"Not really!" Skulder squeaked (1).

"Skulder, you're fine. We won't let you fall. Now open your eyes and enjoy the view!"

"How did you know my eyes were closed?!"

"You just told me!"

Hesitantly, Skulder opened his eyes. He'd never been one for heights; the furthest he'd ever gotten was climbing up to the top of very tall hills. Still, he was relieved to find they weren't _too_ high; about level with the peak of Berk's mountain. Even so, the view from there was incredible.

"Oh, my…" He breathed in amazement, staring out at the distant horizon and the small buildings and people below.

Hiccup grinned; he loved this part. "See? It's not so bad."

"Uh, yes…I'm just attempting not to look down too much. Not that I don't trust you, it's just rather unnerving, you see. I feel as if I…"

"Want to jump?" Hiccup supplied. "Or as if something is pushing you? It happens. You get used to it (2)." He chuckled and added, half-jokingly, "I get it so bad I had to make my own wings in case I flung myself out of the saddle."

"Your…own wings?"

"Yep. I'll show you later. Although honestly, I was flinging myself out of the saddle long before I got wings." Skulder didn't respond to that…in fairness, it wasn't something one _could_ respond to. "Truth is, we don't normally go this high on patrol. Okay, bud, let's drop lower" Hiccup finished. He angled the tail-fin, Toothless tilted his wings, and they carefully spiralled downwards.

"What are you patrolling for?"

"Just making sure our…that the dragons aren't being too boisterous. There are a lot of them here, on a rather small island, and they can get a bit impatient with each other. It's better to break up squabbles before other dragons get involved and we end up with a free-for-all" Hiccup explained, as he and Toothless scanned the ground and air for any sign of trouble.

"Do you do this all the time? Flying and patrolling and what have you?" asked Skulder.

"Pretty much" Hiccup shrugged, "but it's not the only thing I do. Out of everyone on Berk, I understand the dragons the best, so I'm sort of a mediator between them and the villagers. I teach at the Academy, advanced flight manoeuvres, that kind of thing; I'll give you a tour of the place sometime, if you like."

"Oh, actually, Fishlegs already showed me around. He said he's the headmaster; that's quite an honour" Skulder remarked, with a bit of uncertainty. Fishlegs had certainly seemed honoured…

Hiccup chuckled. "When we first started the Academy, I was the Head, but Fishlegs has been hoping to take after me for years. You should have seen the look on his face when I offered him the job. Next to me, he has the most knowledge about dragons, and he's a lot better at keeping track of the students than I would be."

*Typical. Thousands-strong pack of dragons spread out over three different islands that aren't close to one another? No problem* Toothless remarked cheerfully. *A hundred or so human fledglings? Hiccup can barely handle his own.* He looked back at what little he could see of his rider, who leaned over – on the pretence of getting a better view – and glared at him. Toothless grinned back.

"What is that?" Skulder inquired, pointing down towards the glacier at the far north-west side of the island. It wasn't the glacier itself that had caught his attention, but rather what was on the end of it; a sort of spiky shell of blue-green ice, which engulfed the glacier and surrounding cliffs and reached out into the ocean like a massive icy spiky sea slug.

"Oh, that's Urchin's nest. I'm not sure if he's in there, but if he is, would you like to meet him?"

"Meet…isn't Urchin the name of…of the dragon you said Drago had used to conquer his enemies? The Bewilderbeast? He's really here?" Skulder sounded amazed, as if he hadn't already been told this. "I'd - I'd be delighted to meet him."

*Are you sure about this?*

*It's fine. Even if he is double-crossing us – and I highly doubt that – seeing we have a Sea-Giant on our side will be nothing if not a deterrent.* Worries assuaged – somewhat – Toothless banked and swept down to the mouth of the nest, flying straight in through a small gap. It was like threading a needle, and his wingtips were mere inches from the cold walls, but he pulled it off with ease.

The igloo like interior was surprisingly warm, and occupied. Toothless landed on a ledge, actually the glacier itself, and his passengers dismounted. With a rumble like the Frost Giants themselves waking up, a large silver-grey and crimson head raised up, tusks sliding into crevices that had been painstakingly chipped away. * **Greetings, Alphas.** *

Hiccup smiled, unfazed by the mental wall of emotions and images. "Good morning, Urchin! Did you have a nice sleep?" he inquired, walking right up to the edge and resting a hand on the leviathan's rough skin. Toothless accompanied him, rubbing against Urchin's chin to mark him as a flock-mate and subject, and take care of an itch at the same time.

Skulder just stood there, his jaw doing its very best to hit the floor.

* **No sleep. Swimming. New-scent?** * Urchin crooned curiously, nostrils flaring. Hiccup stepped back and gestured to his guest. "Urchin, this is Skulder. He's a friend. Skulder, this is Urchin" he introduced them.

"Uh, I, uh…h-h-hello…?"

* **New human male is nervous** * Urchin observed, peering at Skulder, who almost looked ready to faint.

*Of course he's nervous. You're huge. He's never seen a dragon as big as you before* Toothless explained to him. Urchin considered this, purring thoughtfully – with his chin resting on the ledge it trembled – and decided * **New human friend of Alpha-Hiccup. Urchin gentle.** * He breathed a cloud of frost over Skulder.

"Aww, he likes you!" Hiccup said enthusiastically. Skulder reached up with shaking hands to brush the ice away, and then froze. "He, uh, won't be too offended if I brush it off, will he?"

"Of course not; it's going to melt anyway. So, now that you two are acquainted, what shall we do next?"

Before Skulder could answer, his stomach did the talking for him. Blushing, he shook the frost out of his hair and remarked, "Perhaps a bit of breakfast is in order?"

"Heh. Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm feeling a bit peckish myself" Hiccup confessed. They got back in the saddle again. "Bye, Urchin!" he waved as Toothless took off.

* **Goodbye, Alphas.***

* * *

They landed at the docks first. "Just gotta stop off here for a minute – I promised Toothless some cod. Normally we'd just fish for it ourselves, but I don't think you're up for a power dive" Hiccup explained. He took a handful of coins from the saddlebag and looked around at the stalls, but the only one nearby already open was…oh dear. He steeled himself and walked over.

"Hello, Fishguts" he greeted, somewhat strained. Fishguts Ingerman (3) had arms as thick as tree boughs, which could probably crush a tree bough into splinters, and a rather hairy upper lip. It was, therefore, somewhat unfortunate that they were a woman. She scowled at him – well, she scowled at everyone – and kept gutting fish with a serrated knife.

"Err…can I buy some cod? I sort of promised Toothless a treat."

"Your dragon can't catch his own fish?" she asked. "The rest do."

"Well, yeah, but we were giving Skulder a ride and…look, I have the money. I'll take a basket, please."

*Just one?*

*Greedy. Let's not push our luck, bud, or it'll be _me_ she guts next.*

"No cod, just pollock" Fishguts grunted, tossing two large fistfuls of raw fish into a shallow basket and swiping the coins from Hiccup's hand before he'd even grasped the handles. "I want that back!"

* _You're_ a pollock* Toothless snorted at her.

*Toothless!*

*What? It's not like she can hear me.* Toothless stuck his head in the basket and quickly devoured the contents. Bleh. Pollock wasn't nearly as delicious as cod, but he supposed it would have to do.

*We'll go find a whole shoal later, promise* Hiccup assured him, before adding "Thank you" to Fishguts, who waved him off with a grunt, counting the money he'd given her. Hiccup, Toothless and Skulder departed the area…once they were sufficiently out of earshot, Skulder commented, "What a ghastly woman."

"Yeah…she scares me. This is why we normally catch our own fish. Hard to believe she's related to Fishlegs. Speaking of which, did you have any plans with him, or…?"

"Oh, well, actually…yesterday I showed Fishlegs some of my notes and sketches of the other cryptids I've studied, and he said I should show them to you. That is, uh, if you're interested?"

"I am. Really, I'd love to – I have to attend the treaty signing with Astrid and Dagur, but after that we can have a chat."

"Oh, yes, of course. Hmm…so the Berserkers are still coming for the annual treaty signing? I bet that's stressful. What did Dagur think of all your tamed – I mean, uh, befriended dragons?"

"We tried to hide them at first…it didn't end well. But he…well, you know, you'll see later. Come on, we'll give you a lift" he offered.

A voice behind them called out "Well, good morning, you two." They turned to see Harald standing there. Toothless bristled. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about the man that rubbed him the wrong way…he noticed then that Leo wasn't perched on Harald's shoulder, and immediately felt suspicious.

"Fine day, isn't it? You're both awake rather early, is anything wrong?" Harald inquired, looking between them. Hiccup sensed Toothless' unease, and he _tried_ to be on his guard, but it was hard to see Harald's mild concern, albeit formal, as something menacing.

"Oh, no. We were just giving Skulder a ride back to the village for breakfast" Hiccup explained quickly. "I, err, don't suppose…?"

*If you suggest we give him a ride, I will pee on your bed* Toothless growled, still glaring at Harald.

"Oh, it's alright" he chuckled, unfazed. "Heights aren't really my thing. Besides, I don't think your dragon likes me. Do you, fella?" he asked, reaching out towards the Night Fury. Toothless snapped at him, and he snatched his hand away.

"Toothless! He's not usually like this" Hiccup apologised. Toothless shot him an _are you kidding me?_ look. Harald wiped his hand off and remarked, "Don't worry about it. Sometimes I think Leo is the only dragon who actually likes me. Well, I'd best get back to work."

Hiccup and Skulder bid him farewell, and a reluctant Toothless flew them back up to the village square. Skulder dismounted and was about to head back to Fishleg's house when…"Skulder?"

"Yes?"

"…Do you think there's something off about Harald? Anything he's said or done that seemed kind of strange?"

Skulder shrugged. "Well, I thought it was strange how he agreed to sail all the way up here for barely any money, but perhaps I'm just being cynical. There are still people who do good for its own sake, like you" he smiled. "No, he's been nothing but courteous to me since I met him. A little aloof, maybe…why do you ask?"

"…No reason. Just wondered."

"Right. Well, I'll see you around, Hiccup."

"Yeah. See you."

* * *

Soon afterwards, Hiccup, Astrid and Helena sat having breakfast. Selena was grooming Ebony and Toothless was curled up next to her, tail over his eyes. "So, how did Skulder take the news?" inquired Astrid.

"Pretty well, all things considered. I suggested maybe he could set his museum up somewhere else. He's taken quite fast to the whole 'dragons are people too' idea…he even came for a ride with me and Toothless. That wasn't so bad, now was it, Mr Sulky?"

Toothless whipped his tail away and fixed Hiccup with a withering stare. *I am _not_ sulking.*

"Yes you are. You always cover your face like that with your tail-fins when you sulk."

"Why are you sulking, uncle Toothless?" Helena piped up. She couldn't understand thought-speak, but in some ways that made it easier. Toothless purred at her and gave her a gummy smile. It never failed to make her giggle.

"Is it because you didn't get the cod you wanted? Cos if you're still hungry, we can go out and" –

*I don't care about the fish* Toothless huffed. He got to his feet and retreated to Hiccup's study upstairs. There was an awkward silence. Selena looked over her shoulder and crooned _concern._ *Do you want me to-?*

"I'll talk to him" said Hiccup, getting up from the table.

* * *

Upstairs, he saw Toothless curled up in the corner, furthest from the gap in the floor the steps led into. *Hey, bud. What's wrong? I was just teasing…* Hiccup said carefully, walking towards the dragon. That was when Toothless pounced.

Hiccup found himself flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him, and Toothless looming over him, pinning him down with one paw. *You didn't expect me to do that, did you?* he asked, hoping Hiccup would get the hint.

*…Oh, right. Your revenge. I don't get it – you _like_ being scratched under the chin!*

Apparently Hiccup didn't get the hint. _Figures._ Toothless started gagging. *Oh come on, are you seriously going to-?*

 _Hurk-splat!_

*….I guess I deserved that.*

*Yes, you do* Toothless snorted, moving aside at last. Hiccup sat up and gingerly peeled the half eaten fish head off his front.

*Alright, come on. Just say it. What's gotten into you?*

Toothless glared at him. *Me? What's gotten into you? I warned you he's no good, and you won't listen!*

Hiccup flinched a bit, surprised by Toothless' snarl. His dragon looked apologetic a moment later, but still… *Are you talking about Harald? Toothless, I know you don't like him, but he hasn't _done_ anything. You weren't keen on Skulder, either, but he turned out to be okay, didn't he?*

*He… _seems_ okay, but I'm telling you, there's something off about Harald. That little Biter of his wasn't with him. Who knows what he could have been getting up to!*

*Okay, now you really do just sound paranoid. He was probably just stretching his wings or sleeping somewhere…not all dragons are gonna spend every waking moment with their humans like you-*

Toothless recoiled, pupils still slit but eyes wide and _hurt_ ; Hiccup realised what he'd just said and gasped. Before he could say anything, his dragon moved away from him and curled up facing the wall. Hiccup sat there, feeling like an absolute ass.

*I…I didn't mean it like that* he said at last.

Toothless hunched his wings tighter. *You don't understand. This has _happened before_. Torch, the oleander, the Smokebreaths, the grimora, that cauldron thing…I sensed something was wrong all those times, and you didn't notice or didn't listen…I can't really blame you because you couldn't understand me back then, but now you can and you still won't trust me* he whimpered.

Now Hiccup felt even worse. _I deserve to have a barrel of fish heads dumped over me for that._ He crawled closer. *Toothless? I'm sorry. I really am. I _do_ trust you, buddy. Honestly. Look at me. Please?*

Reluctantly, Toothless glanced over. Hiccup was on his back, peering at the dragon upside down, his throat bared…Toothless sighed. Hiccup only made himself vulnerable like this when he was truly, really remorseful. He reached up to stroke Toothless' nose, and the dragon didn't flinch away.

*I trust you. If you think there's something going on with Harald, I believe you* Hiccup promised him.

*Then why aren't you doing anything?*

*Well, what could I do? I know you have a bad feeling about him, Toothless, but…a feeling isn't evidence. I'm sorry. Besides…well, think of it this way. If I pulled a Tuffnut, if I went and found Harald right now and pointed at him and yelled 'TREACHERY!' …what do you think he would do?*

Toothless squirmed, reluctant to admit it, but finally… *He'd look at you like you were crazy.*

*Exactly. They all would. He'd just change his plans, whatever they are, and try to throw us off the scent. If he doesn't think we suspect anything, he won't be as cautious, and there's more of a chance he'll slip up and do something we can _actually_ bust him for* Hiccup explained.

There was a long pause as Toothless struggled to put this concept into words he could understand. *So…you're pretending to think he's a friend…so he'll make a mistake and show himself as an enemy?* he said uncertainly. He wasn't sure how much sense this made, or if it made any at all. *What if he doesn't make a mistake?*

*Well, that would mean he's not taking risks, and then he might as well not have a plan at all. But now that I think about it…maybe we _can_ dig up some dirt on him and his crew. We just need to spy on them a bit. Well, I say 'we'…I know someone who could do it much more easily. After all, Harald isn't the only one who has a Terrible Terror for a friend* Hiccup pointed out with a smirk.

It took a moment, but Toothless soon realised who he meant. *Come on!* Hiccup protested, as the dragon groaned and rolled his eyes. *First off, you're acting too human for your own good. Second, it's a good plan! Sharpshot can sneak into places we can't, he can even try and talk to Leo, maybe _he_ knows something. Do you want to catch this guy out or not?*

"Hiccup?"

They both looked over to see Astrid leaning on the edge of the floor…or was it the ceiling? She raised her eyebrows at them and said, "I hate to interrupt your bro time, but Stormfly just warned me that a couple of dragon riders are approaching Berk so I'm guessing Dagur is here. With Heather, this is nice."

Hiccup began getting to his feet. "We'll be right down" he promised. Astrid nodded and went down the steps, only to pop back up a moment later. "And clean up that fish head. It's disgusting" she warned, before disappearing again. Hiccup and Toothless glanced at one another, and stood up.

Toothless licked up the fish head. As his rider went towards the steps, he called, *Hiccup? I forgive you. I'm sorry I doubted you.*

*It's alright. And look on the bright side; there's no way I can be an oblivious idiot for the whole three hundred years…*

/

(1) He'd never admit it, but Skulder has a high-pitched scream.

(2) This is called the high place phenomenon and is caused by cognitive dissonance. When you're high up, your natural instinct is to recoil from the edge; but your other senses tell you that you're not in immediate danger. The conflicting signals your brain receives creates the illusion that you must actually want to jump, or are being pushed from behind.

(3) I like to think his first name is a family theme. Fishhead, Fishtail, Fishbone…no wait that's Hiccup. _Rimshot!_


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

A/N: The Skrill is mentioned in this chapter. Credit for the name goes to Le'letha and 'Flashfreeze'.

Skin and Bones – Chapter Four

Hiccup, Astrid, Valka and Helena made their way to the village square. Two familiar silhouettes could be seen approaching in the sky, accompanied by an escort. A sleek, metallic Razorwhip, known as a Silver-Scale; and the exotic Triple Stryke, known as a Three-Tail.

The escort peeled off; their guests' dragons landed in the square, not a wingbeat out of place. Windshear and Sleuther were carrying not only their riders, but a smaller passenger each. Heather and Dagur dismounted a each lifted down from their saddle a red haired toddler.

Helena squealed in delight and trotted forwards, gleefully exclaiming "Cammie!"

"Lena!" the little ginger girl cried, equally excitable, and ran up as fast as her stubby legs could carry her. They hugged and then dragged Cammie's twin brother Oswald into it as well.

The adults chuckled fondly. "Oh, it is so good to see you both!" Heather beamed, embracing Astrid. "It feels like it's been ages."

"I know, right? We really need to visit more often. Oh, and I have the most super _amazing_ news. Brother!" Dagur grinned widely at Hiccup, who winced as the stronger man briefly crushed him in a tight hug. Once he could breathe again, he coughed and said, "It's nice to see you guys again too."

"Definitely. We have got to catch up after the treaty signing, but for now, you all must be hungry and tired after your journey" said Astrid.

"Pheh. A little flight like that? Sleuther could do three flights between our islands a day" Dagur boasted. "So could Shattermaster. Berserker dragons are just that awesome. No offence, Hiccup, yours are good too" he added with a dismissive wave in the Dragon Whisperer's direction. Even after all this time, and his genuine face-heel turn, the size of Dagur's ego still rivalled that of his armada.

"None taken. Oh, by the way, you do realise that if he flew between our islands three times, he'd end up here on Berk, right?" Hiccup asked casually. Dagur frowned, confused. "From your island to Berk, to your island, to Berk. Three flights. You uh, can count, can't you?"

"I-! You! Argh! If I wasn't in such a good mood and we weren't friends and you didn't have dragons who would torch me, I'd punch you in the face" Dagur glared…well, daggers, at Hiccup.

"What for?" Hiccup asked innocently.

"For being smug! You have no _idea_ how often I wanted to punch you in your smug, stupid, smartass face back when we were mortal enemies, Hiccup" Dagur informed him, making strangling gestures. Hiccup merely raised an eyebrow. Even Toothless raised an eyebrow.

"Ha! I feel ya, Dagur!"

"Thanks, Snotlung!"

"Aw, _come on!_ "

"Quiet!" Astrid snapped. "That's enough, from _all_ of you" she glared at them. There followed some embarrassed shuffling and mumbled apologies. With one last huff, she turned away from them. "Let's go to the Great Hall. You can eat first, we'll sign the treaty, and then talk."

Meanwhile, Toothless was greeting Windshear and Sleuther, nuzzling the former whilst the latter ducked his head in not quite a bow. *You're both welcome to help yourselves to the fish in the feeding stations* Hiccup invited them, stroking a hand down Windshear's slick muzzle. She purred gratefully at him.

"Valka, can you keep the little ones entertained whilst we're busy?" Astrid inquired of her mother-in-law, who smiled and nodded.

"Not a problem, Astrid, dear. Helena? Come on sweetie, let's go play with your friends. Oh, Aegir, would you like to come too?" she kindly asked the little boy standing beside – Well, half behind – his adoptive father. Aegir's eyes widened, and he looked cautiously up at Fishlegs for permission, before nodding.

"Hi, Fishlegs" Heather smiled, casually flicking her braid off her shoulders and resting her weight casually on one hip.

"H-hi, Heather" he replied, blushing. He'd had a crush on her for ages; they'd broken it off on good terms when they'd realised that to have a proper relationship, one of them would have to live on the other's island, but he'd never quite gotten over her.

"I'd love to have a chat after the treaty signing, if that's okay?"

"Sure! I mean, is it okay? With you, Chief?" Fishlegs asked Astrid.

"I don't see why not."

"Can he bring Skulder with him, then?" asked Hiccup, "I said I'd look at his notes on the other cryptids he's studied."

"Oh, go on then. Now, shall we?"

The adults (and one Night Fury) went up the steps to the Great Hall. The children stampeded to the Chief's house, chased after by an ageing but still quite spry Valka. Sleuther and Windshear slunk off to greet some of the other dragons and get a drink. The small crowd began to disperse, the villagers growing bored now that there was nothing that interesting being said or done.

Skulder turned to Fishlegs, wide-eyed, and asked "Dagur is reformed?! And he rides a dragon?! And his dragon is a _Triple Stryke_?! They're not even native to the Archipelago!"

Fishlegs blinked, and then sighed. "It's a long story…"

* * *

"So then I said, 'no pal, I'm not going _down,_ you're going _up_.' Idiot spent so long trying to figure out what I meant, he didn't even notice Sleuther's tail coil round his ankle. Short flight, long drop, with extra screaming on the side!"

Everyone laughed, the ice well and truly broken. Once she'd stopped chuckling, Astrid picked up the scroll beside her and untied the string holding it together. Then she elbowed Hiccup, handing it to him when he winced and looked over at her. "Have you two finished? Great, now let's sign this treaty already and get back to more interesting things."

More chuckling ensued. Astrid rolled her eyes, stifling a laugh of her own, and prompted "Hiccup, read the terms."

He looked from her to the scroll in his hands, and then back at her. "Why don't you-?"

"Someone who is not affiliated with the Chief is supposed to read the terms, to ensure impartiality. And before you ask, yes I know we're married, but if I'd had Snotlout come here and do it he'd be hitting on Heather again" Astrid explained impatiently, before he could finish.

"I don't really think he's serious about it" Heather remarked thoughtfully. "You'd think getting tossed into a pillar would be enough of a hint that I'm not interested…"

"Um…I was going to say 'why don't you just sign it?'" Hiccup revealed. Then he smirked. "And I should hope you know that we're married. It's been six years, after all."

Astrid glared at him. "It's protocol" she retorted, through gritted teeth. Hiccup sighed inwardly. Astrid was a great Chief, but she was very by-the-book. That was, admittedly, one of the reasons she was so good.

Hiccup, however, was the very opposite of by-the-book.

He unrolled the scroll and read the contents aloud. " _Ahem._ Let it be agreed henceforth that on this day marking the defeat of the Berserker Tribe, who got their asses whopped by six teenagers on dragons, in the interests of preserving the peace now that we're all pals here, the Chief of the Berserker Tribe, Dagur the Defiant, and the Chief of the Hooligan Tribe, Astrid the Fearless, will hereby sign this treaty which states that blah, blah, blah de blah, something something no invading, something something act of war, everybody stays friends, hip hip hooray."

By now, Heather was lost in a fit of the giggles, and Hiccup was struggling not to burst out laughing too. Toothless had no such restrictions and was rolling about on the floor. Even Dagur was snickering. Astrid punched Hiccup in the arm. "Ow!"

"I swear to the gods, Hiccup, it's like you _want_ to be kicked out of bed!"

"Astrid, we both know you didn't really want to read the whole thing. It's not like we don't already know what's on it" he pointed out. She kept giving him a death glare. "I'll make it up to you" he promised.

Dagur plucked the scroll out of his hands and signed his name with a flourish, then held it out to Astrid. She relented at last and signed it, before tying the scroll back up and laying it aside.

Heather glanced over at Dagur, who was practically bouncing in his seat, and rolled her eyes. "Good thing you've signed the treaty, cos I think my brother's about to explode" she remarked wryly.

"Oh, right, your 'super amazing news'. If it's really that important, why not just tell us?" Astrid inquired.

Permission granted, Dagur jumped to his feet, grin wide enough to nearly split his face in two. "You're not gonna believe this!" he singsonged. "My men and I were scouting out a new outpost on Icestorm Island, and as I was intrepidly exploring, you'll never guess what – or should I say, _who_ I found." He paused for effect. "The Skrill!"

This grand proclamation didn't quite receive the amazed gasps he was expecting. "You found a Skrill?" Hiccup asked, as if it were a commonplace occurrence.

"No!" Dagur's arms windmilled. "Not just _a_ Skrill, Hiccup! _The_ Skrill! _My_ Skrill! And it gets even better. Deathstrike is a daddy! He had a nest with a little baby Skrill egg in it. At least I think it had an egg in it, I didn't get a good look, cos he screamed at me and shot lightning so I don't think he wanted me around, but who cares?!"

 _Now_ they looked properly amazed. "What about the mother?" asked Astrid. "Dagur, are you sure you didn't see another Skrill there?"

"I was a bit busy trying not to get killed by an angry parent, Astrid. I don't _think_ I saw another Skrill, but maybe they were just…camouflaged, or something. There are a lot of dark rocks on Icestorm Island. The point is, my baby has a family! I'm a grandfather!"

"Oh Sweet Odin, you're as bad as Hiccup."

"Hey!"

*Hiccup, about the Skrill...*

"Oh yeah, that reminds me! Hiccup, can you" –

"Just a sec, Dagur. What is it Toothless?" There was a pause as he listened to his dragon, and then he had to suppress a snicker. "Oh. Right. Uh, Toothless just reminded me that Skrills are loners amongst dragons. They're very solitary. If they find a mate, the female raises the young and the male…doesn't. Dagur, are you absolutely _sure_ the Skrill you saw on Icestorm Island was the one we broke out of that glacier? It wasn't a different" –

"I know my Skrill, Hiccup! You can tell your Night Fury apart in a whole pack of them, can't you? I _know_ my Skrill is on Icestorm Island. What are you trying to say?" Dagur demanded, folding his arms.

Hiccup smirked a bit. "I'm saying that Deathstrike isn't the father…they're the _mother_ " he explained (1).

Dagur's eyes widened. "You…you mean my Skrill, my beautiful, destructive, glorious Deathstrike…is a _girl_?!"

He was immediately met by glares from the two warrior women in the room. "Just what is wrong with girls, Dagur?" inquired Heather, her raised eyebrow saying _choose your words carefully._ Astrid's hand resting on the butt of the handle of her axe beside her chair finished, _or deal with the consequences._

Dagur winced, glancing at Hiccup and Toothless. They shook their heads silently. _You're on your own._ "Uh…I just…nothing's wrong with girls, Heather! I love girls! I was just surprised, that's all. I mean he – uh, she – looks like a boy. Right? I'm not the only one?"

Astrid sighed and admitted "I thought he – um, she - was a male dragon too. How could we not tell?"

Hiccup shrugged. "In fairness, she's the only Skrill we've seen, and dragons don't look too different between genders unless you know what to look for" he reasoned.

Dagur bounced on his heels impatiently, and burst out "Hiccup? Can I ask a huge, huge, _huge_ favour?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and replied "Which would be…?"

"I need you to come back to Icestorm Island with me and use your…" here Dagur looked all around, before leaning forwards and hissing " _you-know-what_ to persuade Deathstrike to let us build an outpost on her island. Just an itty-bitty one" he said, gesturing with thumb and forefinger. He smiled eagerly, hopefully.

 _Uh oh. Better let him down easy._ "Uh, Dagur, I don't think that's such a good…I mean, you did say Deathstrike chased you off. It's likely that she doesn't want to be disturbed on that island whilst she's raising her young" Hiccup pointed out. Dagur visibly deflated.

"I don't think it was just because she's had a baby" Heather smirked. "If you recognised her, odds are that she recognised you too."

Dagur scowled at her. Hiccup cleared his throat and remarked, "She, uh, sort of has a point, Dagur. You and uh, Deathstrike don't exactly have the best history" he pointed out. "Neither do she and Toothless, for that matter."

"Why is that?" Astrid wondered, looking at Toothless, "Did you two know each other, or…?"

*No, but Lightning-Fangs and Swift-Wings have been mortal enemies and rivals since…well, forever* Toothless replied.

"Why?"

*Because they're selfish vain angry jerks!*

Dagur protested, "I've _changed,_ Hiccup!"

"Yeah, _we_ know that, but she doesn't."

"But this will make it up to her!"

"Why do you even still want an outpost on that island?" asked Astrid, "I'd have thought you'd want to leave the place alone."

"You don't understand, Astrid" Dagur shook his head, sinking into a chair. "Icestorm Island is where my tribes legends of the mighty Skrill began. It's where our warriors of old found the Skrills that they conquered and turned against our enemies, to strike fear into the hearts of all who oppose us!" he cried, shaking his fist. Then he realised what he was saying.

He cleared his throat and continued, "I don't want the outpost built because I'm trying to take over her island. I want to use it to _protect_ her, and her babies. She's vulnerable, and if dragon hunters found out that there was a Skrill on that island with a hatchling – who knows how long it will take the baby Skrill to grow up? A few years, at least, plenty of time for someone to try and…but if there were Berserkers guarding the island of our glorious Skrill, she would be defended."

The others exchanged glances. They could all see how passionately Dagur felt about this, as he turned pleading, begging eyes on Hiccup. The younger man shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unable to quite meet Dagur's gaze. "I know you mean well, and I want to protect them too, but don't you think having Berserkers on the island would draw too much attention?"

Dagur frowned; he hadn't thought of that. Then he rallied himself and protested, "We can be subtle! Sort of. I'm not asking to keep an armada there, just an outpost that can keep an eye on things. I'd rather draw a bit of attention than leave Deathstrike and her hatchling completely unguarded."

"She can't be completely defenceless" Astrid protested, "She shoots blasts of _lightning,_ for Thor's sake."

"Nesting dragons are vulnerable, Astrid! You two, of all people, should know that" Dagur insisted, pointing accusingly between Hiccup and Astrid. He thumped a fist on the table and cried "There've been legends of Skrill's on Icestorm Island for generations amongst my people. It's as close to a sacred island as we Berserkers have; but there used to be _more of them._ There had to have been. What happened? I think it's pretty damn obvious. _Dragon hunters happened_."

Dagur stood up, walked around to Hiccup and loomed over him. "Look me in the eye and tell me you know for _certain_ that Deathstrike will be safe there on her own" he demanded, staring Hiccup down. His hands were balled into fists, betraying the storm underneath an outermost layer of calm. He'd been practicing, obviously.

Undaunted, Hiccup rose to his feet and met Dagur's gaze. "I'll come to Icestorm Island with you, and talk to Deathstrike. I can't promise anything will come of it, though. She might refuse our help, and if that happens, there's nothing more I can do" he explained.

Dagur's chest heaved in a deep breath, which he held for as long as he could before letting it out slowly. "Thank you, Hiccup. That's all I ask" he said gratefully.

* _You could have asked me if I wanted to see that Skrill again_ *.

* _I can always ride there with Dagur on Sleuther*._

 _*…I never said I wouldn't come. But when she attacks us, don't say I didn't warn you*._

* * *

Dagur smiled broadly. "Phew! Sure am glad I got that off my chest. So, what super amazing news do _you_ have, Hiccup?" he challenged.

"Um, well…"

"Does it have anything to do with that man who was standing next to Fishlegs and staring at us – well, mostly at me, and really, who can blame him. I'm pretty sure I've never seen him before. Who is he?"

"That's Skulder, he's Fishleg's cousin. Well, sort of. He left Berk back when we were kids, he's been travelling the world studying cryptids. Unique animals, like dragons" Hiccup elaborated in answer to their puzzled stares, "apparently there are more out there. A few of the species we thought were dragons are actually other kinds of cryptid."

"Sounds interesting. I don't suppose we could meet him?" inquired Heather. Any friend of Fishlegs could be a friend of hers, right?

"I don't see why not. Toothless? Can you fetch them?" Hiccup asked his dragon, privately adding * _And send word to Sharpshot as well_ *. Toothless left swiftly and a tad reluctantly; he trusted Hiccup and knew he was in no danger, but he still disliked being apart. It was the nature of the heart bind, and he knew Hiccup felt the same way.

Astrid watched him go and then turned to her husband. "I thought you two made up" she remarked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, we did" he reassured her, "but I can't be in two places at once. I wanted to tell you…" Hiccup explained to Dagur and Heather about Skulder's arrival with Harald and his crew. "I can vouch for Skulder, but Toothless has a bad feeling about Harald. The trouble is, a bad feeling isn't enough to convict him, so just be on your guard, okay? I don't want him to think we suspect him until we have absolute proof."

Toothless soon returned with the others, which in this case consisted of the core riders and Skulder, who was clutching a bunch of notebooks stuffed with parchment. "I told him about Dagur's…change of heart" explained Fishlegs, as Skulder eyed the formerly deranged and still rather unpredictable chieftain nervously. "I think it might take a while to sink in, though."

Everyone took seats around the table, their dragons wandering about as they pleased. Heather decided to break the ice first. "So, uh, Skulder, is it? My name's Heather, and this is my brother, Dagur. Don't worry, his bark is a lot worse than his bite."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you both" he smiled, shaking their hands and trying not to wince at Dagur's much stronger grip.

"Hiccup said you've been studying cryptids?"

"Oh, uh, yes, that's right. I brought my notes and sketches and all that" he replied, gesturing somewhat unnecessarily at the notebooks. "I've, uh, studied all the dragon species, or almost all, and other dragon-like creatures that are only distantly related…"

Dagur asked, "Do you have any notes on the Skrill? Oh, yeah, did I mention? I found my Skrill!" he beamed. "I found Deathstrike on Icestorm Island, and she's laid an egg!"

"Deathstrike? Cool name!"

"Really?! That's wonderful!"

"That awesome dragon was a girl _?! Ow!_ "

Skulder shuffled through his notebook. "I think I have something here, somewhere…where is it…ah!" He exclaimed, unfolding the parchment to reveal two sketches of Skrills. "This is a male Skrill, and this one a female" he explained. The male, oddly enough, was a bit smaller and less spiny…though that wasn't saying much.

Snotlout scoffed. "You've got them mixed up. _That_ one's gotta be the male, they're always stronger. That's like, a law of nature" he insisted, jabbing a finger at the larger sketch.

"Actually, whilst with most dragons it is the drakes who are more aggressive, in some species such as Changewings – and apparently Skrills – the drakainas are more aggressive" Fishlegs lectured.

"Ooh, drakaina, how do you spell that?" asked Skulder.

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "As if we didn't have enough dragon obsessed weirdos here on Berk" he muttered, not entirely subtly. Hookfang overheard and snorted a blast of hot air in his face. He scowled at his dragon, annoyed and completely missing the hint. Fortunately, none of the humans appeared to have heard, or if they had then they were doing an excellent job of ignoring him.

"Those are really good drawings, Skulder" Heather complimented, remarking "They look like how you draw dragons, Hiccup."

He smiled and revealed, "Who do you think taught me to draw?"

Fishlegs prompted, "Show 'em the phoenix feather! Skulder has a real phoenix feather, isn't that incredible?!"

"Phoenixes aren't real!" Dagur protested, "…are they?"

"Extremely rare, but they are quite real, I assure you" Skulder declared, lifting the scarlet case from his satchel and unlocking it. The feather within shone bright enough to make the daylight streaming in through the open doors look dull. Everyone who hadn't yet seen it (and those who had) oohed appreciatively at the sight…then Snotlout cleared his throat, attempting to look manly again.

Skulder showed them sketches of various cryptids; from the vicious and poisonous tatzelwurms, to the secretive and deadly cockatrices, along with the four headed hydras and turtle like kappas. "Nasty creatures. They'll eat anything, but they do have a particular taste for cucumbers, for some odd reason."

"What's a cucumber?"

"Oh, it's a vegetable (2) they grow in warmer places, looks sort of like a long green sausage. Kind of tasteless, if you ask me."

"What if you didn't have a cucumber with you and you ran into one of these things?" Hiccup inquired. He was trying to sound casual, but he was really very interested in all these different creatures. After all, this would be useful stuff to know when he and Toothless stepped down as Alphas and went to spend the rest of their shared lives exploring as much of the world as they possibly could.

"Then your best bet would be to bow to it. No, really; the kappa bows back and water trickles out of a hollow on top of its skull. Without water from its home pool on its head, it's weakened. That's the best – really the only – time to make your escape."

Heather inquired, "So what made you decide to come back to Berk after all this time, Skulder?"

He shrugged and replied, "My travels took me back to the edge of the archipelago, and…I got nostalgic, I suppose. Homesick. I'm not entirely sure how long I'll be staying, but…I think I might settle down again now. I'm getting a bit too old to be gallivanting off all over the place, and Berk is certainly a much nicer place to live now than it was when I left all that time ago."

Presently the conversation drifted to other matters, and soon enough the small group dispersed and went to do other things. Fishlegs invited Heather to the market; Dagur tagged along with Astrid as she went to relieve Valka; Hiccup and Toothless went to patrol their territory and found Sharpshot waiting for them.

*Here's what we want you to do. Sneak onto Harald's ship – that one, down there, with the red and white flag – sneak on board tonight and eavesdrop, snoop around, see if you can find out what Harald's plan is. If he says anything about me and Toothless, or dragon hunting, get out and come find us. Oh, and watch out for his Terror, Leo*.

Sharpshot chittered excitedly, fluttering by Hiccup's head. *I will do it, Alpha-Hiccup! I will, I will!*

*Attaboy, Sharpshot. Good luck, and be careful!*

* * *

That evening, Fishlegs put Aegir to bed early. "And the Malodorous Marauders never set foot on the island of Berk again, the end. Did you have a nice time playing with Helena, Cammie and Ozzie today?"

Aegir looked uncertain. He nodded slowly. "Are you sure?"

He mimed plaiting long hair, then twirled his finger by his ear. _The girls are crazy._ Fishlegs laughed. "They are a bit exuberant. But they're nice to you, aren't they?" he checked. Aegir smiled and nodded. "Well, that's good. Sleep tight, Aegir. You too, Iggy". Fishlegs kissed him on the forehead; he pulled a face, and then mimed sleeping and pointed to Fishlegs. _Goodnight, daddy._ The little Biter chirped and yawned.

Fishlegs closed his son's door softly behind him. Meatlug greeted him with an eager gurgle, but then he noticed that the door of the spare room was ajar. He found Skulder putting his boots on by the front door. "Uh, Skulder?" he asked. The other man startled, and nearly knocked over a poker.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just nipping down to Harald's ship. I want to ask him if his crew can unload my collection tomorrow. I've spoken to Astrid about storing it here until, ah, better arrangements are made. You and Meatlug go on to bed, I shouldn't be too long" Skulder explained. He left the house, and Fishlegs went to his room.

"I should really wait up for him" he yawned. The last thing he remembered was Meatlug starting to lick his toes…

* * *

Skulder went down to the docks, nodding a polite 'good evening' to the Berkians still up and about, and trying to resist the urge to give the dragons a wide berth. Harald's crewmen were moving around the deck of his ship; they paid him no attention – "Excuse me, good fellows, coming through" – as he boarded and climbed down the ladder into the belly of the ship.

As he approached the door of Harald's cabin, Skulder overheard shrieking coming from behind it. It sounded like a dragon, one of those little Terrors, and he couldn't help but go nearer. Perhaps the poor thing had gotten stuck in the cabin somehow. He'd come back to the spare room in Fishleg's house to find it in shambles, with little claw and bite marks all over the place. He didn't think Harald would be pleased to find a Terror had gotten into his belongings as well.

When he was outside the door, reaching out for the handle, he heard raised voices. "CAN'T YOU SHUT THAT INFERNAL PEST UP?!" Skulder hesitated, startled. That didn't sound like Captain Harald…it sounded more like his first mate. He couldn't hear the reply, but he did hear "OH YEAH? LISTEN, YOU! SHUT UP BEFORE I WRING YOUR NECK!"

Skulder bit back a gasp. The shrieking stopped, and he held his breath in the silence that followed. Presently, he heard Harald saying "Could you _please_ try to keep your voice down?"

"There ain't nobody there, cap'n". Skulder froze, wanting to escape but afraid to move…and a bit unwilling, too. "'Sides, they'd just think I was yellin' at your pet, there. I still don't see why you went an' caught the other one, not like it was gonna blab."

"I'll thank you to not say any of your vulgar threats to Leo. It's a shame he couldn't retrieve the most valuable piece in that fool's so-called collection. Don't worry, my little friend, you did your best." (3)

"Hmph. I say we just set sail with his collection right now and be done with it. This job is a bust, Captain; the target's too well guarded! He's got eyes everywhere, with these dragons – like that dratted thing – and that Night Fury never leaves his side…"

"Then it's a good thing the order was to capture both Haddock _and_ his dragon alive, isn't it?"

Skulder couldn't believe what he was hearing. Thieves! Brigands! Bounty hunters! They wanted to steal his belongings and capture…he had to warn Hiccup. Skulder stumbled away from the cabin door, and his foot landed on a particularly creaky bit of plank. A loud _crack_ rent through the air. Skulder bit back a wince. Maybe they hadn't noticed?

"What is it, Leo? Someone's out there."

Or maybe they had. Skulder ran for it. He made it about halfway when another crewman came down the passage; a hulking brute of a man, whom Skulder had always deigned to avoid. "Whatcha doing?"

Skulder skidded to a halt, weighed his options briefly, and took off in the opposite direction – only to find himself face to face with Harald and his bo'sun. _Damnit._ "Uh, ah, Harald! I was just, uh…is s-something wrong?" he stammered, very aware that he was outnumbered three to one. He wasn't in bad shape, but the odds weren't on his side.

"I'm afraid there might be, Skulder" Harald said gravely, "I think you might have overheard something you weren't supposed to hear."

"What? No! No, no, I uh, I heard nothing! I just, um, came down to ask if you and your crew wouldn't mind unloading my specimens tomorrow morning? Then you can go back to your own course, and we'll never have to see each other again. Uh, not that your company was…unpleasant…" Skulder trailed off at their unimpressed stares, and realised there was pretty much nothing he could say or do to get out of this. Instead, he glared. "You're a fiend, Harald."

Harald shrugged. "I've heard worse. I'm afraid, Skulder, that I can't have you leaving this ship and going to warn a certain someone…but I really must thank you, my dear fellow. You've been _most_ helpful" he remarked, smiling sinisterly. Before Skulder could protest, he was caught in a tight grip; a sweet and overpowering scent filled his nose, and he knew no more…

* * *

Hiccup and Dagur were setting out early for Icestorm Island. Whilst Dagur waited (im)patiently, Hiccup and Toothless made their usual morning circuit of the island. By now most of their subjects knew that they were leaving the nest for a while, and they had to reassure the dragons who were awake that they'd be back soon.

As they flew over the docks, Toothless glanced down…and noticed something that made him back-wing and hover, twisting in midair to face the source of his consternation. "What is it?" asked Hiccup.

*Harald's ship isn't there* Toothless replied. Sure enough, when Hiccup looked he too could see no sign of the broad-decked, red and white flagged ship. Had they really just left in the middle of the night?

Sleuther flew over with Dagur on his back. "Can we go, Hiccup? What's taking so long?" he demanded, "and what are you staring at?"

"Harald's ship is gone" explained Hiccup.

"Whose ship?"

"Harald – you know, the merchant I told you about yesterday, the man Toothless had a bad feeling about."

"You mean the one who might secretly be a dragon hunter? Well, if his ship is gone, isn't that a good thing?"

"It doesn't make sense. If he was up to something, why would he just leave? And if he wasn't…I don't think they unloaded all of Skulder's specimens, not to mention – Sharpshot! Sorry, Dagur, but Icestorm Island is gonna have to wait" declared Hiccup. He and Toothless dived down to the docks as Dagur yelled after them "No it doesn't! Can't you just leave this be?!"

Toothless landed on the docks were Harald's ship had been tied up, but there was no sign of any crates or canopic jars. "I'm sure they didn't unload anything…Astrid would have been told if there had been a load of dragon bones and who knows what else left on the docks" Hiccup remarked, thinking aloud. Before Toothless could reply, a small yellow and green Biter flew up to them, squawking in distress.

*Alphas! Help! I can't find my mate!* the Biter wailed; then Hiccup recognised her, she was Sharpshot's mate, Quicksnap. He let her perch on his wrist and asked her, "You can't find Sharpshot? You mean he didn't come back to your nest last night?" he asked worriedly. Guilt clawed at him inside – he was the one who had asked Sharpshot to spy aboard Harald's ship, the same ship that had now vanished.

*No, Alpha-Hiccup, no! I waited, waited, waited and he never came!*

*I'm sorry, Quicksnap. Don't worry, I think I know where he is and we'll find him, okay? I promise. Just hang on*. Quicksnap bowed on his wrist, leapt to his shoulder to nuzzle him briefly, and then took off again. Hiccup and Toothless flew straight to Fishlegs' house, with Dagur and Sleuther in close pursuit.

Hiccup dismounted and knocked repeatedly on the door. "Fishlegs? Skulder? Are you in there?"

"What are you _doing,_ Hiccup?! You're gonna wake the whole bloody village! Fishlegs can come visit my Skrill some other time."

"Not helping, Dagur." Hiccup tried the door handle – it wasn't locked. _That's weird, Fishlegs always locks the door. Unless…_ he pushed it open and walked in, trying not to make too much noise. Not easy with a metal foot. He went to the guest room Skulder had been sleeping in; the door was ajar, and when he peered around the edge, Skulder was nowhere to be seen.

"Hiccup? Err, what are you and Dagur doing in my house? This early?" Fishlegs asked, appearing in nightclothes and yawning.

"Where's Skulder?" Hiccup demanded.

"Well, good morning to you, too…"

"Fishlegs, it's important! Where is he?"

"You mean he's not in his room? I dunno…he went down to Harald's ship last night. Said something about asking them to unload his stuff?" Fishlegs shrugged.

"Harald's ship is gone, and they haven't unloaded anything."

"What? Where?"

"They've gone after my Skrill!" Dagur exclaimed. "This long lost 'friend' of yours must have told them about Deathstrike – Hiccup, you said we could trust him!" he snapped, grabbing Hiccup by the shoulders and shaking him.

Pulling himself out of Dagur's grasp, Hiccup protested "We can!" _At least I thought we could._ "Something isn't right here. Fishlegs, get dressed. We need you and Meatlug to be our fall-back."

"But Aegir…"

"He'll be fine, now come on!" Hiccup and Dagur rushed out of his house, leaving Fishlegs to stand there and wonder just how his day had gotten off to such a strange start.

"Ugh…I hate early morning missions…"

* * *

(1) I know the wiki says the Skrill they encounter is male, but the only way this worked was to make them female. So, yeah.

(2) Technically a fruit, but let's not worry about that.

(3) Leo was attempting to steal the phoenix feather when he wasn't with Harald that morning.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

Skin and Bones – Chapter Five

Toothless, Sleuther and Meatlug flew over the ocean, searching for Harald's ship. That was the trouble with tracking ships; scent did not carry well over water, and they had no way of knowing where the vessel had gone. "Come on guys, think! Did Harald say anything that might have been a clue as to where he'd go after here?"

"We already know where he's going! To Icestorm Island to hurt my Skrill and her baby!"

"Dagur, we don't know that" –

"Yes we do!"

Fishlegs piped up, "Err, well, Skulder did say he'd met Harald in Iceland, so he might be going that way anyway" he suggested, pointing roughly southwest. It was the only lead they had, so they set off in pursuit.

"Can't your dragon go any faster, Fishlegs?" Dagur demanded impatiently, "We have to hurry! They're way ahead of us; they're going to hurt Lil' Strikey!"

"She's doing the best she can! Besides, we're the fall-back; we're not supposed to go diving and hollering into battle, that's _your_ job."

"Well then it's a good thing that's my specialty!"

"We could do it too if we had to. Dagur, why are you complaining about Meatlug? You _like_ Gronckles! You used to ride one!"

Dagur looked chagrined. "Sorry, Fish. You're right; I'm just worried about Deathstrike and Lil' Strikey."

"You don't know for sure that…" Fishlegs trailed off at Dagur's glare. "Never mind. I just can't believe Skulder would betray us like this" he said, shaking his head in disbelief. The man was family; he'd trusted him, let him into his home…Fishlegs thanked the gods that whatever Skulder had been up to, he'd left Aegir unharmed. He'd been sure to check on the boy before he left, just in case.

"Fishlegs, I don't think he has betrayed us" Hiccup called. Then again, the only hint he'd had that Harald wasn't all he seemed was Toothless' instinctive dislike of the man. The dragon hadn't said anything yet, but he just _knew_ that he was going to get an extremely smug earful later.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, I can't, but – just listen, okay? Fishlegs, you said that Skulder went back to the ship to ask them to unload his specimens, right?"

"Um, yeah, that's what he said."

"It was a ploy!"

"Shut up, Dagur. Look, what if whilst he was on the ship, he found or heard something he wasn't supposed to, and they kidnapped him to make sure he couldn't warn us?" Hiccup suggested.

"That does make sense" Fishlegs conceded. Honestly, he much that explanation over the alternative. He _liked_ Skulder – despite the man's odd interest in dead things, he was kind and easy-going, and had never given off the impression of being up to no good. Then again, neither had Harald. They would just have to be warier in future.

* * *

The broad-decked merchant ship soon came into view; it was moving at a steady clip, but the same wind that made the sail billow out to its fullest was also carrying the dragons in their flight. They were catching up, which meant it was time for a plan. "Okay, guys, who's ready to capture a ship? Dagur, you and Sleuther cover me and Toothless . Fishlegs, you and Meatlug stay out of range as much as you can. If one of us gets caught, the other two fly straight back to Berk for reinforcements."

"Can we try _not_ to get caught, please?"

"We'll do our best!"

"Here's an idea! Why don't we go back for reinforcements right now?"

"No time! Ready, Dagur?"

"Born ready!"

"Remember – circle, attack, peel off. Here we go!"

Toothless picked up speed, catching up to the vessel and circling it in a banking turn. Hiccup's eyes and his scanned the ship for threats; bolas launchers, net catapults, crossbows – _there!_ The sailor in the crow's nest wielded one. Now the crew had noticed them, were aiming their weapons; but the pair were too high to reach. For now.

The black dragon came around and aimed like an arrow himself at the crow's nest. They'd take out the nearest target first. His heart-fires blazed from his chest into his throat with that distinctive whistling shriek, and they plunged from the sky like a black beacon of death. That is, if the sailor had no sense and didn't jump down to the rigging. Yet as they drew nearer, the man raised his weapon and aimed the green tipped bow right at them.

"Look out!" Hiccup cried, jerking the tail-fin. They pulled up and rolled just in the nick of time; he could hear the _whoosh_ of the arrow darting past. Toothless snarled, cursing silently. He should have known the human would try that trick – but it would take time for them to reload, and right now they were defenceless. He realised this in a split second and swiftly charged up another blast, twisting around and firing.

The bolt struck true – a Night Fury never missed – and the man vaulted out of the crow's nest moments before it erupted in flames. Unfortunately, stalling and hovering to deliver a blow left his belly open, and that was just the moment the rest of the archers had been waiting for. A hail of arrows flew right at them before Toothless had even fired his blast; tongues of flame streaked past, scorching the shafts, and Dagur yelled "Go!"

Toothless went, the two dragons wheeling around in retreat; but Harald's crew were better archers than they thought. Hiccup and Toothless both cried out in pain as the barbed arrow head pierced the softer scales of Toothless' flank, where the membrane of his wing met his side. On its own they might have coped with the blow, but these were dragon-root arrows, and the poison was fast acting.

Toothless had hoped to never experience this ordeal again; the acidic burning eating through his veins, floundering as his muscles and nerves were attacked and stricken…Hiccup gasped in pain, feeling as if he'd been stabbed and set alight with his own blade.

The ship turned beneath them to catch them on her deck. Everything was blurred by agony – someone was shouting a battle cry, there was fire, people running– the _twang-hiss_ of more arrows being released, a dragons shriek and a man's yell. The thud of a heavy body hitting the deck, more angry shouting – _Thanks for the daring rescue there, Beowulf (1)._

He didn't bother looking up at Dagur fighting the hunters; his only thought was getting to that accursed arrow head and removing it from Toothless' flesh. Followed by stabbing it into whoever had fired the arrow, just to see how _they_ liked it. His fingers fumbled at the wound, the merest touch sending spasms of pain through them both, only to be grabbed by the arms and hauled away. "Let me go! Toothless!"

Hiccup looked up and met the eyes of a man he now loathed more than anything. "You eel-eating son of a snake!" he bit out, furious at Harald but moreso at himself, at his stupidity and trust and recklessness. It seemed so obvious now that they'd been flying right into a trap, but he'd been his usual overconfident self and not _thought_ -

Dagur had been disarmed and restrained, by a bear of a man as large as Stoick, and was snorting like a bull, red-faced and furious. "Son of a snake? More like son of a bitch! Poison arrows are _cheating_ , you hear me? You're nothing but a dirty, lying cheater!"

Harald stopped mere feet away from them and remarked, "Well, with that sort of language I don't see why I should give your dragons the antidote." He held up a stoppered flask that must have contained the cure to the dragon-root; to the poison that was weakening their dragons and making them writhe in pain. It was taking all of Hiccup's strength to stay on his feet and not scream along with his other half.

"Now, I _might_ give it to him, if you apologise and ask nicely" Harald continued. Hiccup wanted to punch him in the face. Leo, perched on Harald's shoulder, laughed at him. Hiccup didn't have any particularly kind thoughts towards the Terror either.

"I'll never kowtow to the likes of you, for I am Dagur the Defi-mmph!" Someone stuffed a gag in Dagur's mouth, and part of Hiccup was almost glad for that. Toothless' pained moans tore at his heart; he swallowed his pride and reluctantly said, "I'm sorry if I insulted you, _Captain._ Now give him the antidote! _Please._ " He didn't care how insincere he was being – he just needed Toothless' suffering to end. * _I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry.*_

 _*Not…your…fault…*_ Of course Toothless would say that, but that didn't make it true.

Harald hadn't moved. "Very well…so long as you tell me something first. Just one little thing." He stepped closer to Hiccup and casually inquired, as if he hadn't just captured them and wasn't torturing Toothless- "Where are the other Night Furies?"

Two thoughts ran through Hiccup's head in quick succession. The first was _why is it always Night Furies?_ The second was _is it good or bad that I don't know?_ The words that actually left his mouth were "No idea." Blunt, but honest. He genuinely had no clue where they were. "Really, I don't!" he elaborated hastily, "They left their old nest and I never found out where they went!"

Harald stepped back and replied, "Well, that's a shame. Though perhaps you just need your memory jogged – bo'sun?" he called over his shoulder. Hiccup looked past him to see the man holding a small cage over the edge of the boat. Inside the cage, shrieking and struggling, was – "Sharpshot!"

"Oh, is _that_ what he's called?" Harald asked rhetorically.

"Should I drop it overboard, sir?" the bo'sun asked hopefully.

"No!"

Harald smiled thinly. "Not if he answers my question" he ordered.

"Oh for – I _don't know!_ I really don't! What makes you think I know?"

"People say they saw Night Furies around here – not just this one, but more of them – about a year ago. You must know something. Perhaps this will persuade you more…" Harald nodded to one of the other sailors – hunters – who stepped forwards and held a long knife to Toothless' throat. The dragon lay on the deck, too weak to struggle, and looked at Hiccup with the same resigned, despairing gaze as when a certain human fledgling had announced he would cut out his heart.

 _Toothless, no…_ "I don't know! If I did I would tell you!" Hiccup snapped. This wasn't entirely true, but it was a moot point anyway. He couldn't confess something he didn't know – but his heart froze with fear, wondering if Harald would kill him and Toothless, or kill Sharpshot, in an attempt to make him talk. How could he make the man understand?

Harald stared at him hard, reading him, and finally said, "You really don't know, do you? Well then. Answer me this, instead – something you _will_ be able to answer…" He stepped closer and whispered in Hiccup's ear, "Can you understand dragon-speak?"

Hiccup's blood turned to ice. Just like that, all the pieces fell into place – Harald meeting Skulder at Smoking Bay, where people lived who knew of his ability; using the man as a scapegoat and alibi, sailing off with Skulder's belongings – and Skulder himself – because he knew Hiccup wouldn't be able to resist playing the hero…

Harald suspected he could understand dragons. It explained so much – why he'd laid the trap in the first place, why he wasn't as curious as Skulder about Hiccup's 'sway' over their pack-mates, why he'd bothered kidnapping Sharpshot. It all added up in Hiccup's mind to one conclusion – he was going to have to lie. With as much conviction as he could muster, he turned his head and hissed, " _No_."

Harald stepped back, eyed him hard for a few moments, and then gave a nod – to someone standing behind Hiccup. A cloth was pressed over his mouth and nose, damp and sweet smelling…Toothless watched helplessly as Hiccup's limbs went slack and his head lolled, under the effect of whatever oil was on that cloth. *HICCUP!* he shrieked, pain and fear clawing their way out of his throat.

The burly man hefted Hiccup's limp form over his shoulder and carried him below deck, followed by an equally unconscious Dagur. Harald turned to Toothless and Sleuther, who both glared at him hatefully. "They'll be fine" the man insisted, "and now to deal with you two. Oh, and bo'sun? Put that cage back in my cabin. Once this 'Sharpshot' has learned his place, he'll be a good playmate for Leo."

* * *

Back on Berk, Astrid and Heather were commiserating together over the utter bullheadedness of their husband and brother respectively. "I can't believe he left without me! I mean, Hiccup I can understand – no offence – but Dagur and I _live_ near Icestorm Island, even if I didn't go with them there, I could have at least come with them for part of the way. It's like he can't see past his own nose" Heather complained.

Before Astrid could reply, there came the sound of running feet and a squawking sound. The next thing she knew, there was an orange-brown Terrible Terror flying around her head, making high-pitched cries of *Fish-dad gone! Fish-dad gone!*

"Agh! Gerroff, Iggy!" she cried, swatting at the Biter, who dived away to land in the arms of Aegir. The little boy's face was streaked with silent tears, and Astrid's maternal instincts (the ones she hadn't actually known about until she'd had Helena) took over. "Oh, Aegir, honey, what's the matter?" she asked, crouching down to his eye level.

He sniffled and let go of Iggy – the Biter perched on his shoulder – to hug himself and waggle his hand through the air like a fish. Then he looked all around and spread his hands with a confused, pained expression. Astrid interpreted these charades and put them together with Iggy's cries of _Fish-dad gone…_ "You can't find your dad?"

Aegir shook his head and then beckoned to her with both hands. _There's more._ He reached up, and then rubbed his hands down his cheeks and chin, miming having a beard. He looked around again with the same worried stare, and shrugged helplessly. This was a bit harder to figure out, but Astrid did her best. "Skulder is missing too?"

The little boy nodded. Just then, Helena appeared at Astrid's elbow. "Aegir? Why are you crying?"

"He can't find Fishlegs, darling. Here, why don't you keep him company whilst Auntie Heather and I go find his daddy, okay?"

"Okay. Mummy, where's _my_ daddy?"

"Oh…he's out flying with Uncle Toothless. That's probably where Fishlegs has gone as well. That's it, you two go play…" Astrid ushered them both inside the house, before turning to Heather. The two women shared a solemn, knowing glance – something wasn't right here. Hiccup and Dagur being absent they could understand, but Fishlegs never went anywhere without telling Aegir where he was going. And where could Skulder have gone?

One of the villagers ran up to them. "Chief! I thought you should know, that new ship is missing from the harbour. The one that Skulder and those err, merchants came on. Some merchants, coming 'ere with nothin' to sell…" the man muttered.

Astrid wasn't slow. "Thank you for telling me, Hogtusk" she told him; he managed to pick up on the subtle dismissal and went on his way. Then she turned to Heather and instructed, "Gather the other riders. I need to talk to Stoick and Valka."

"You think they're in trouble?"

Astrid gave her best friend (apart from Stormfly) a long suffering look. "It's Hiccup we're talking about. Of course he's in trouble."

* * *

Pain. There was pain, in his right side, beneath his ribs…something hard around his wrists…somebody was speaking. They sounded familiar. He tried to focus. What were they saying?

"Hiccup?...Hiccup! Wake up!"

That was his name. He still couldn't place who was talking; his head felt fuzzy, like it was full of sheep's wool. His lips were dry. He tried to rub his head, only to hear chains clanking and realise his arms were, for some unfathomable reason, held above his head. An even more familiar voice said *Hiccup, we've been captured.*

Abruptly the memory rushed back – getting ambushed, the dragon root arrow, Harald's questions – his eyes flew open, and he gasped out "Toothless!" The heart bind wasn't tugging at him, so he knew his other half had to be nearby – and sure enough, through the bars right in front of him, he saw Toothless laid on the crates filled with Skulder's dragon bone specimens, and Sleuther lying on the floor on his left. Both dragons were wrapped in heavy chains and muzzled.

*Good morning, sleepyhead. Have I mentioned I hate boats?* said Toothless. *They gave me the cure and patched the wound up, but it still hurts. Sharpshot is safe though. Well, more or less. Harald said something about keeping him as a playmate for that little pest Leo. But Hiccup – Skulder was chained up down here too. They took him away – I don't know where* the dragon explained.

*I thought I was done with chains* Sleuther complained. *This is why I shouldn't go near you Berkian dragons. You're nothing but trouble.*

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Toothless was okay. He took stock of the situation…they were in the cargo hold of Harald's ship. He and Dagur were chained up side by side in the brig. There were only a few planks of wood between them and dark icy water, which was not a very comforting thought. "Dagur, what did we agree?"

His fellow prisoner winced. "I couldn't just leave you, Hiccup. I had to try to rescue you!" he protested.

"And now we're both prisoners. You should have left us and gone for help" Hiccup insisted. He looked at the other man, who wore the expression of a scolded dog, and suppressed a sigh. "Still…I appreciate the thought" he admitted, feigning reluctance. "Even if it was incredibly stupid of you. Stupid and crazy is _my_ MO, not yours."

Dagur grinned. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I _invented_ crazy. But…admittedly, this wasn't my best plan."

Before Hiccup could respond, he heard someone climbing down the ladder. Footsteps approached and resolved into Harald, who stepped past Toothless, ignoring the dragons' low growl. Hiccup and Dagur glared up at him – in their positions they could do little else – and Hiccup demanded, "Where's Skulder?"

"He's…indisposed" was the curt reply.

Dagur yanked on his chains – they didn't give, but it made him feel better – and boldly declared, "I'll never talk!"

Harald shrugged. "So be it; I didn't want _you_ to talk anyway. The only reason you're still alive is that I can't ransom a dead Chief, but I suggest you hold your tongue, if you don't want it cut out" he threatened.

Dagur grimaced, disgusted, and protested, "Cut my tongue out? Eww! What are you, a pirate?!"

With an absolutely wicked grin, Harald donned a wide brimmed blood red hat and replied, "In a manner of speaking, _yes_." He turned to Hiccup, ignoring Dagur entirely, and remarked in a conversational tone, "You know, it is such a pity you don't know the whereabouts of the Night Fury nest."

"Sorry to disappoint you" Hiccup replied sarcastically.

"Oh, _I'm_ not disappointed. It's a pity for _you,_ and your dragon. You see, I wasn't completely dishonest about what it is we do. We _are_ sellers of leathers and hides…I simply wasn't entirely forthcoming about what sort of hides they are." Whilst talking, Harald had removed his shoulder guards, and now shrugged on a red coat to match his hat.

A blood red, scaly, _dragonskin_ coat. Hiccup's blood ran cold. His skin crawled in sympathy as Harald ran a hand over Toothless' head – the black dragon snarled and jerked his head away. "Did you know that the hide of a Night Fury was once the most sought-after of all dragon leathers?" Harald inquired, in an unnervingly calm tone (2).

The implication was clear and sickening. "Don't you _dare_ hurt him!" Hiccup shouted in a burst of bravado, struggling in his bonds. He might as well have been a child for all the good it did; even now, he wasn't strong enough to yank away rusted chains, let alone all-but-new ones. He gave Harald looks of the deepest loathing, wishing fervently that 'glaring daggers' was more than a mere expression.

Dagur was outraged too. "You can't _do_ that!"

"What's to stop me? You're both chained up, unarmed, behind bars. Your dragons are chained and muzzled. The only thing between this Night Fury and a fate as a new coat and matching boots – oh, and that Triple Stryke of yours will make good armour – is _your_ co-operation, and _your_ silence" Harald threatened, looking from Hiccup to Dagur.

The latter opened his mouth – undoubtedly to stick his foot in it – so Hiccup kicked him. "Ow!" He gave Dagur a fierce stare. _You're making it worse._ Thankfully, the Berserker Chief got the silent message and clamped his mouth shut. _Which is exactly what I should have done_ Hiccup thought bitterly. _I should_ never _have told Ormar that I could understand dragons. This is all my fault._

"I'm glad we understand each other" said Harald. He gestured to his men; two of them stepped forwards and unlocked the brig. They unhooked Dagur's chains and dragged him out; he struggled, uttering muffled oaths at them from his between his stubbornly clamped lips.

"What are you doing?!" Hiccup demanded.

"I want to talk to you in private, and he's in the way. Don't worry – like I said, he's more useful to me alive" Harald said in a not very reassuring sort of way, as Dagur was pulled through the hold and up the ladder. Sleuther had growled when his human was taken away, but now fell silent, afraid of drawing attention to himself.

"Harald, whatever you're planning won't work. Our friend escaped, and he'll be back with reinforcements. I hope you and your crew are good swimmers, because this ship is going to be kindling by the time we're through with you" Hiccup said calmly.

"It will be ages yet before they reach us, if they are coming at all" Harald retorted, unconcerned. "For now, let's talk. I want to know why you lied to me, Haddock."

"What? I didn't! How many times do I have to tell you, I don't know where the Night Fury nest" –

"Oh, not that" Harald waved a dismissive hand. "I meant the other thing. Why did you lie and say you can't understand dragons?"

"I…you said 'dragonspeak'. I mean yeah, I understand dragons, maybe more than most – but they're not _talking_ to me. They're wild animals."

"From what I gathered on your island, you seem to think they're people. Or that people are animals, or both. A few people were even under the impression you can read the beasts minds."

"That's impossible" Hiccup bluffed. Harald clearly wasn't fooled, so he switched tactics. "Okay, I get it. You heard I could understand dragons, so you thought you'd come kidnap the 'Dragon Whisperer' and…what? Sell me? Turn me into your own personal translator?"

"What is this, question trading time? I think you're missing the balance of power here."

 _No, I'm just an insolent brat._ "It's less risk for you to answer my questions than for me to answer yours" Hiccup pointed out.

"True" Harald conceded, rubbing his goatee thoughtfully. "Very well. If you must know, I was asked to procure you. For a very high sum, I might add." He said it as if it might make Hiccup feel better. "They didn't say to kill your dragon…but then, they also didn't say _not to_ , if you see what I mean."

Hiccup glowered at him, but said nothing. "Terror got your tongue? Now, my question. Can you understand the dragons?"

"…No" Hiccup replied at last. It was undoubtedly too late, but if he just kept denying it…Harald unsheathed a knife. Hiccup's eyes widened in alarm as he turned the point on Toothless' scales… "No!"

Harald paused, and regarded Hiccup with that awful detached gaze. He swallowed hard, cursing himself, and reluctantly admitted, "…I can…understand dragons."

Prove it" Harald challenged, before Hiccup could ask a question of his own. He resisted the urge to glare at the man; Harald was treating him like nothing more than a puppet, and _enjoying_ it.

"Toothless is saying that when we get rescued, the first thing he's going to do is tear your throat out and eat your heart." Toothless had said no such thing, but he was probably thinking it, and Hiccup felt just slightly better to be threatening Harald in return, if only in words.

"Prove it" Harald repeated, smirking.

Reluctantly, Hiccup said " _Fine_. Tell something to Toothless, and he'll tell it to me." At Harald's raised eyebrow, he explained "Dragons can understand human speech."

So Harald leaned down and whispered something in Toothless' ear. The dragon's pupils were already slit, but fear filled his eyes at Harald's words. When he repeated them, Hiccup felt sick. Fighting back bile, voice shaking, he bit out "He says…before you hand me over to this 'client' of yours…you're going to skin Toothless alive and…and make me watch" he choked out. Gods, he could already hear the _screaming..._

Harald looked surprised – almost impressed. "Well, I'll be. You were right on both counts. Your turn" he prompted, as if he hadn't just casually threatened to condemn Toothless (and Hiccup) to a slow, painful death.

"Who is this 'client' of yours?" Hiccup demanded. He needed to know who wanted him captured so badly.

"No idea" Harald repeated his earlier words mockingly. "No, seriously. He never gave me his name, he wore a hood the whole time that hid his face…and I'm pretty sure he was deepening his voice."

 _Well, that's helpful_ Hiccup thought bitterly, for once keeping his inner snark on the inside. Harald continued, "The only thing I do know is that it wasn't him who wanted you. He was asking on behalf of someone else. Now for my next question – how did you end up with this gift?"

That was the question he'd been dreading. "I…I can't tell you. I mean it! Even if I did, it wouldn't do you any good. I'm the only person this has ever happened to" Hiccup insisted, desperately trying to herd the conversation away from this topic. The last thing he wanted was to tell Harald about the heart bind. "I don't even know _how_ it happened to me! Why I'm the only one…look, you want me to translate for you, then I will, but I seriously _cannot tell you_ how it's possible."

His desperation must have shown in his face, because Harald actually relented. "So be it. Is there anything else you want to ask me before I leave?" he inquired politely.

"Who told you I could understand dragons?"

"Nobody. Well, no-one in particular. I overheard people talking about in the tavern I was meeting my client in. Two people in particular; about yea big, short brown hair" Harald described them. Hiccup suppressed a sigh of relief. That didn't sound like either Ormar or Isak; the first had long blond hair, and the latter's hair was dark and curly. _It must have been Ormar's guards,_ he realised, _I'd forgotten they'd overheard that._

"Well, if that will be all…this is nothing personal, you understand. It's just business."

* * *

Harald left at last, but the tension he'd brought into the room lingered. Toothless shifted on the makeshift table – he refused to think of it as an altar, or of the bones that were _right beneath him_ – trying in vain to get comfortable. The rattling of the chains only served to make Hiccup feel ever more guilty for getting them into this mess.

*I'm sorry, Toothless, Sleuther* he apologised, yet the words felt hollow. *This is all my fault.* So much for his stupid little 'watch and wait' approach. He should have had Harald locked up in the dungeon the moment Toothless insisted that he had a bad feeling about the man. Not to mention…he had a horrible feeling Skulder was dead. There was no reason for Harald to keep him alive, after all. It made knowing that Skulder hadn't betrayed them more bitter than sweet.

Toothless crooned mournfully. *It's okay* he reassured Hiccup. Of course, it was anything but, yet that wouldn't stop him comforting his other half.

*No, it's not. I should have listened to you. I'm never trusting anyone again* Hiccup declared stubbornly.

There was a long pause. *Except you.*

*And Astrid, Helena, Selena, your parents…*

*You know what I mean* Hiccup grumbled. His eyes slid over to Sleuther; the Three-Tail had been silent throughout Harald's interrogation, and now Hiccup saw that his eyes were closed. Bizarrely, he wondered if the dragon had fallen asleep. *Sleuther? Are you awake?* he asked cautiously.

The brown and yellow dragon cracked an eye open and peered at Hiccup. *I'm afraid. We're going to die, aren't we?*

*No. No, of course not.*

*Is my rider alive?*

 _I hope so._ *It's Dagur we're talking about. He'll be fine* Hiccup reassured the dragon.

Moments later he heard clanking, and the sound of people coming down into the hold. He tensed instinctively, as did the dragons, afraid that Harald's men were coming to make good on his threat of skinning them…but instead, they chained Dagur back up in the cell and left without a word. Hiccup finally let out that sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank the Moon. Are you okay?"

Dagur stared at him incredulously. "Am _I_ okay? Are _you_ okay?! Did he hurt you? Any of you?"

"No. We're fine. Sleuther was worried about you, though."

"He was? I mean, don't worry, old friend. It's gonna take more than a few threats and the odd punch to get the best of Dagur the Defiant."

Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Dagur, listen. Skulder didn't betray us. Toothless told me he was chained up in here before us – he was a prisoner too. I was right; he must have been kidnapped, to lure us out" he explained.

Dagur looked urgent. "So that means…my Skrill is safe?" he whispered.

Hiccup nodded. The other man slumped in relief. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait…if Skulder was a prisoner like us, then where is he?" Dagur asked. Hiccup didn't need to voice his suspicions. The look on his face spoke volumes. Dagur gulped.

"I hate Harald" he said presently.

"Same here."

"I just want to wring his stupid neck."

"Yeah."

A silence fell. It was broken by Toothless, finally, who asked *Hiccup? I think I know who Harald reminds me of.*

*You do?*

*Viggo* the dragon replied solemnly. Now that he thought about it, Hiccup realised Toothless was right. The eerily detached politeness, the carefully laid and sprung trap (he still berated himself for falling for it), the cruelty to dragons, the insistence that it was all for business...Harald really did have a lot in common with Viggo Grimborn. Of course, that was before…

*Do you think they're related?*

*Gods, I hope not. I doubt it. If he so much as mentions 'Maces and Talons', I'm gonna set this ship on fire myself.*

* * *

 _So this is how I die_ Skulder thought glumly. _Drowning alone, or perhaps death by sunstroke…thought a traitor…I'm sorry, Hiccup. I never wanted you to be captured. If you survive, I hope you can forgive me…_

He was stranded in a rowboat, left adrift at sea. He'd managed to spit out the gag, pull out of his bonds and made himself hoarse shouting for help. It was beginning to feel like a lost cause. He looked around at the waves, hoping to see the sail of a ship, any ship – then maybe he could convince them to sail to Berk so he could warn Astrid…

That was when he saw it…the water rippled towards him, as if something large was fast approaching beneath the waves. Skulder gulped, and cast around for some kind of weapon. There was a single oar in the boat – he'd been paddling with it in an attempt to fight the waves, and now he gripped it in a battle stance. Of course, one flimsy wooden oar wouldn't do him much good against a Scauldron or Thunderdrum or Submaripper…

As the thing approached, it quickly became apparent that it was bigger than any of those three dragons combined. Skulder gave up on making a heroic last stand and instead tried frantically to paddle away. Then he had to let go of the oar altogether and hang on to the sides of the boat as whatever it was swam under him, making the waves surge.

Once he was sure he wasn't about to be pitched overboard, Skulder realised the sky had gotten darker. He looked up to see an incredible sight – hundreds of dragons, all following the thing in the water. They were heading…the same way as Harald's ship! And there were riders! "Help!" he shouted, waving his arms wildly, "Astrid! Fishlegs! Help!"

The dragons flew on, and for a moment he feared they hadn't seen or heard him…but then one of them peeled away and swept down towards him. The Monstrous Nightmare scooped him up and carried him aloft in his claws, until he was level with Astrid and her Nadder. "I'm sorry!" he shouted, a bit hysterically. "I didn't betray you, I swear! I had no idea they were bounty hunters!"

Astrid called over, "We don't have time to take you back! You'll have to ride with Valka!"

He was unceremoniously dropped off onto the broad back of Valka's dragon, a magnificent Stormcutter. He looked for something to hold onto. There was no saddle…and she was _standing_ on the dragon's back. He remembered then that she'd been living amongst and riding this dragon for twenty one years. She was even more skilled a rider than Hiccup, and that was saying something.

Skulder decided the safest bet was to stay right where he was, between the dragon's shoulder blades. Astrid and her Nadder – Stormfly, that was it – flew alongside them. "Fishlegs told us about the ambush. Do you have any idea where Harald is taking them?"

He was about to answer 'no', but then he remembered something. "He said that he had orders to capture Hiccup and Toothless alive. I imagine they're going back to Iceland, to Smoking Bay."

"Then we're going the right way" Astrid said decisively. "Skulder, listen. I know your collection is aboard that ship, but this is a rescue mission first and foremost. Your specimens don't come before my husband's life" she insisted. Skulder looked at her solemnly, and replied "Astrid, I could not possibly agree more."

She nodded once, and then cried aloud, "Onwards! For the Alphas!"

Her cry was met with an answering roar.

/

(1) Even captured and in pain, Hiccup is a snarky little s***

(2) It was mentioned in 'Heart Bound' that the Night Furies went into hiding because they were being hunted so much. This is what they were being hunted to near-extinction for.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

Skin and Bones – chapter six

"Omm…Omm…Omm…"

His arms throbbed with a dull ache, and the skin around his wrists stung where the manacles dug in. His back hurt from the hard wooden boards, and he could sense a phantom pain coming in his leg, or what was left of it. He felt queasy; he didn't know if it was the subtle heaving of the ship in the swell, or the images Harald had conjured up with his callous threat, the ones he couldn't unsee…

"Omm…Omm…Omm…"

 _Your fault. All your fault._ His own conscience taunted him, tormented him. He could see more than ever why Toothless hated 'if's. _If_ he had trusted Toothless' instincts completely and not turned to his own faulty reasoning. _If_ he had brought more back-up with them when they first went after Harald's ship. _If_ he had stayed his tongue and told no-one the truth of what he could do, of what he understood…

"Omm…Omm…"

"Would you _stop that?!"_ Hiccup snapped at last, unable to take it anymore. Dagur flinched, hurt, but he was too far gone. He was _angry._ "How can you be so calm about this?! You should be…going berserk! Do you even realise what's going on? We're trapped, we're helpless, and there's nothing we can" –

*Hiccup*. The word was accompanied by a weak moan, and in an instant, Hiccup's head whipped round to stare at his dragon, who was lying limp as if he were already dead. Yet if he looked closer, he could see Toothless trembling. The dragon whined, a thin reedy sigh, and whimpered. *I don't feel so good.*

"Oh, _Toothless_ …" Hiccup's heart ached for him. He'd gotten so caught up in the spiral of his own dark thoughts, he hadn't realised that he'd gradually felt sicker and sicker…because Toothless was sick. "I'm here, buddy. It's okay, I'm here" he said reassuringly, calmly. Dagur was taken aback slightly by his sudden change in mood. Dimly, he had the presence of mind to wonder if his own mood swings were that abrupt.

*I feel sick* Toothless moaned. *I feel like I'm falling…* He jerked, rattling the chains around him, as that feeling came again. The sensation of what was beneath him slipping away, leaving him to drown in the cold waters below. _Hiccup tugging fruitlessly at his bonds, only to go limp as his air ran out… *_ I'm scared _*_ he whimpered.

Ships scared him. Ships meant _trapped,_ they meant _captured_ ; he could only recall a handful of times he'd been on a boat, or near one, and not been in chains. That was the worst – knowing he couldn't escape, that if the ship were to sink there would be nothing he could do, just like there was nothing he could do when they _skinned him alive_ …

"Don't be scared, bud" Hiccup implored him. * _Don't be scared. I won't let them hurt you. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe*_ he promised. Somewhere in the background, he was aware of Dagur trying to comfort his own dragon, but the world had shrunk to just the two of them. He met Toothless' gaze and held it in lieu of holding his other half properly, and letting his other half hold him.

* _We'll be okay. Fishlegs escaped; he won't let us down, he'll get help. We just have to hang on. You just have to hold on a little longer. I swear, when all this is over, you'll never have to land on a ship again_ * Hiccup promised. Toothless' pupils flickered briefly, and he felt just the tiniest bit better. * _I don't like ships either. Between the sea and the sky, I'd pick the latter every time._ *

* _What if he tries to make you tell him about it?*_ Toothless asked. There was no need for specifics.

* _It depends. I think I can hold out if he tortures_ me _…I know you'd be in pain too, but it feels worse when they're doing it to you. You don't have any way to make it stop._ *

* _But the only way for you to make it stop is to talk. What do we do if he finds out about…us?_ *

There was a long pause. Then Hiccup replied with the last thing Toothless expected. _*We kill him._ *

The dragon's eyes widened. * _You…you don't kill. I mean…you don't_ plan _to kill._ * He could hardly believe it. This was Hiccup, the man who always wanted to find another way, who believed that peace was possible when no-one else did. Hearing him say so calmly – no, decisively – that he would kill someone for knowing too much…it almost scared the dragon.

 _*I don't want to_ * Hiccup continued, and Toothless relaxed a bit. That sounded more like the Hiccup he knew. * _Believe me, bud, I don't want to become a…a murderer. But if he does get it out of me…I might have to silence him. I've been too careless. Too many people know about our bond. This is my fault and I don't know how to fix it, but I can make sure it doesn't happen again. I need to start protecting you the way you've always protected me._ *

Toothless looked into his eyes, and saw how serious he was. Then the dragon knew what he had to say. * _I don't want you to kill him._ *

* _Toothless_ …*

 _*I don't want_ you _to kill him_ * Toothless said hastily. * _You are a lot of things, but a killer isn't one of them. Not like this._ * To kill in battle, in self defence – to defend their shared self – was one thing. It was another to kill someone because they knew too much. * _You_ do _protect me; and apart from that one time, you've never had to kill anyone. You're not a murderer, Hiccup. You don't want that blood on you._ *

Hiccup gasped softly. Finally he stepped back, metaphorically speaking, and saw clearly what he'd suggested. Toothless was right – this _wasn't him._ When had he become the sort of man willing to end a life so callously? * _You're right. I shouldn't do this_ * he agreed. * _I don't know what I was thinking. I'm just_ …*

* _I know. I'm scared too._ *

 _*I don't know what I'd do without you, bud. Thank you._ *

* _It's okay. And if it comes to it,_ I'll _kill him. I'm a vicious, untamed wild animal, it doesn't count as murder if I do it_ * Toothless declared. Hiccup gave a soft laugh. Even in the most dire of circumstances, Toothless knew just what to say to make him feel better. * _Do_ you _feel better?_ * he had to ask.

* _I'll feel better once I get off this blasted boat*_ Toothless huffed.

*Hiccup?* Sleuther's raspy voice cut into their conversation. Hiccup looked over at the Three-Tail, who glanced at him and asked, *Dagur keeps talking about his Skrill. Is he replacing me?*

*No!* Hiccup said hastily. "Dagur" he prompted, and the man jerked, startled. "Sleuther's worried you're replacing him with the Skrill" Hiccup explained, and Dagur's eyes widened in shock.

"What? I am not! What makes you think-?"

"It's not me, it's him. You keep calling Deathstrike 'your Skrill'. And…well, to be fair, first you were riding Shattermaster, and then…"

"That wasn't – I didn't _replace_ Shattermaster! You know that!" Dagur cried, outraged. "He was hurt! I was only riding Sleuther whilst I waited for him to recover, but when he did, Sleuther and I had formed a bond. I couldn't choose between them so Shattermaster did the noble thing and…let me go. And by then he'd gotten close to Bersa! (1) Don't you _dare_ say I replaced my dragon, Hiccup."

Hiccup had the decency to look apologetic in the face of Dagur's glare. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier as well."

Dagur shrugged. "Eh. It's okay, I'm used to it."

"When did you become the sane one?"

The man gave him a grin that showed far too many teeth, and Hiccup couldn't even see him properly in this position. "You won't think that after you hear my insane plan to escape" he murmured.

"You have a plan?"

"Do you have lock-picks on you?"

"Yeah, in my pocket – but I can't even reach them."

"I can!" At Hiccup's dubious look, Dagur insisted "No, really! All I have to do is dislocate my thumb, slip my hand out of the cuff, pop my thumb back in, wait a few minutes for the pain to subside, then reach over and grab the lock-pick out of your pocket. Easy peasy!"

There was a pause. Finally Hiccup said "One, eww. And two, does that actually work? The thumb thing?"

"Oh, sure! (2) I've slipped out of plenty of handcuffs in my time. Come on, what do we have to lose?"

For a moment Hiccup wanted to reply "Everything" – but, he figured, saying you had everything to lose was almost the same as saying you had nothing to lose. Either way, it was a risk. So he swallowed, and replied "Alright. If you really think you can do it." He certainly didn't envy Dagur breaking his own thumb – again, _eww_ – to escape.

"Right. Here we go." Dagur didn't sound quite as confident now. "Come on Dagur. Get it together. Embrace the pain!" He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Okay…on count of three. One…two…"

Toothless' ear flaps pricked. *Listen!*

"Wait!"

"Thr-augh! What?!"

"Shhh! What is it, Toothless?" asked Hiccup. The dragon's ears were still pricked. *Just listen. I thought I heard…*

* * *

They listened, straining their ears, and then…Hiccup and Dagur heard it too. It sounded like rain and thunder; they could hear the hunters on the decks above, running and shouting. "A storm?" Dagur asked, confused, "Is that it? Toothless, are you really pausing my brilliant escape plan to listen to the rain?" he demanded incredulously. Although, he secretly wasn't too upset…

"He says it's not rain" Hiccup reported, "And to listen, because it's getting closer…" He listened, and the sounds gradually morphed from rain and thunder…to wingbeats and roars. He beamed. "I think that's Fishlegs with our back-up!"

At that moment, the ship suddenly bucked in the waves. Hiccup and Dagur groaned as they were flung sideways, Sleuther tumbled into the crates, and only the chains holding Toothless on top of him stopped him from rolling right off. When the boat finally settled and they weren't getting tossed about like rag dolls, Dagur yelled "What the heck was _that_?!"

His answer was a bellow so loud it reverberated through their very bones. It was also uncannily familiar. "Urchin?!" Hiccup asked aloud in disbelief. *Toothless, do you think that was…?*

*It was painfully loud, is what it was!* the dragon replied, pinning his ear-flaps back. Hiccup moaned. Everything sounded like he was hearing it from the other end of a long tunnel; above them, he could make out the tell-tale sounds of fire attacks, and the _shing_ of metal on metal. There were several thuds and yells; and at last, the trapdoor to the cargo hold was wrenched open. Two axe-wielding warriors slid down the ladder; one with flaxen locks, the second with raven.

"Astrid!"

"Heather!"

"You two are in _so much_ trouble!" Heather warned them.

"You what? I can hardly hear a thing!"

Heather got right to work releasing the dragons; Astrid went straight to freeing their riders. "Thanks, love" Hiccup said gratefully as she undid his handcuffs with the keys she'd swiped. "You got here a lot faster than I thought you would."

"We came after you as soon as we realised Harald's ship was gone. I knew you'd gotten in trouble again; wife's instinct" she explained, smirking at him. He smiled sheepishly back.

Heather's axe chopped through the chains holding Toothless down; he stood up and stretched out his aching wings, arching his back. "Toothless! Oh, that's better" Hiccup cheered, running up to hug him.

"Let's get out of here" Astrid declared, and they all made a break for the exit.

"Wait! We have to get Sharpshot, he's in Harald's cabin!"

"Hang on" Dagur noticed at last, "Where's Windshear? And Stormfly?"

"They're fine! They're helping the others up on deck" Astrid replied.

The six of them – four humans and two dragons - made their way to the captains quarters. A quick plasma blast from Toothless made short work of the door, but when the smoke cleared there was no sign of Harald _or_ of Sharpshot. Hiccup did however see his sword on the shelf which he'd rather not leave behind, so he snatched it back.

"Where did they go?" Astrid demanded. Just then there was a shout from the deck above them; the word was unclear but the tone was unmistakable. "Well, that doesn't sound good" Hiccup quipped as they rushed up to the deck. He vaulted into the saddle as they ran. Toothless leapt out onto the deck with a thunderous snarl, glowing with his Fury's Fire, and wasted no time in taking to the air.

Once they were out – at last! – Hiccup's jaw dropped. The ship was surrounded, not only by all the riders, but so many of their flock! Selena, Bosaal, Lekaame, Spirika, Bestrin – and Urchin's mighty tusks could be seen curving on either side of the ship, hemming it in. His rising from the ocean must have been what sent the ship careening in the waves earlier, leaving Hiccup and Dagur with aching arms.

Yet the incredible and heartwarming sight of their flock coming to save them was offset by the obvious stand-off right in front of them. Most of Harald's crew had been plucked from the deck and were dangling from talons and jaws. The one exception was Harald himself, who was standing on the f'castle and holding the cage with Sharpshot still trapped inside over the edge.

"Make one move and this one goes overboard!" he shouted. Toothless snarled at him, and Hiccup felt like snarling as well. What was Harald _thinking_? He was so obviously outmatched, and did he really not think they'd rescue Sharpshot from the water? Then out of the corner of his eye, Hiccup noticed something – or rather, someone – and realised they had to keep Harald distracted.

"Give it up, Harald – it's _over_! Let Sharpshot go and surrender. You're outnumbered, outmatched, and we are _not_ afraid of you!" he declared. The last part was more for his and Toothless' benefit than anything else. They would not fear this man as they feared Drago.

"Don't you remember?" Astrid had reunited with Stormfly and joined Hiccup in the air, facing off against Harald. "I told you there were two rules about life on Berk. The first is don't question the twins – the second is _don't mess with our dragons_."

"Yeah! We are _not_ to be questioned! Our word is law!"

"That's not what I meant, Tuffnut!"

"That's right, dragon hunting scum! You mess with one rider, you get the whole pack!" Ruffnut shouted, waving a fist in the air.

Hiccup had to agree with the sentiment. Then the last person he expected spoke up. "Why are you doing this? What do you even want?" Skulder called down from his perch on Cloudjumper's shoulders. "Do you want money? Then let that Terror go, take my collection and _leave._ The life of even one dragon is worth more than what you'll get for a bunch of old bones."

He was very glad to see Skulder was still alive, and he could see Harald wavering, torn between holding them off and escaping whilst he still could. If they could just get through to him…but then Leo, who had been perched on his outstretched arm the whole time, suddenly leapt off with a shriek and flung himself at Dagur, who had been trying to sneak up on Harald to take him down from behind.

It was surprising that Dagur had gotten as close as he did – and it turned out that Harald wasn't his target after all. His large hands snapped up and snatched the purple Biter out of the air, leaping back out of Harald's reach as the man lunged for him. "Leo!" he cried out, eyes wide and free hand grasping at air. For just a moment, before the stubborn scowl returned, Hiccup could swear he saw genuine fear on Harald's face at the sight of Leo in distress.

"Ha! Gotcha, you little pest!" Dagur exclaimed, with a manic laugh that sounded more like his old self than he had all day. "Free that dragon, Harald, or this one gets it!" he threatened, squeezing the thrashing Terror clamped in his grip. Leo let out a strangled squawk, eyes bulging.

"Dagur, no!" Hiccup cried out. He wanted Harald stopped but he didn't want any dragon to be hurt in the process. Both Dagur and Harald looked up at him; the latter then yelled as Windshear swooped down on him from behind and snatched him from the deck. The cage tumbled from his grasp; but the Razorwhip's flexible tail flicked down as she hovered and hooked through the handle on top.

The riders cheered; Hiccup sagged in relief. Windshear carefully lowered the cage onto the deck; Dagur opened it and Sharpshot flew out, darting straight up to Hiccup. "I'm so sorry, Sharpshot" he apologised, pulling off the band holding the little Terrors' jaw shut. Sharpshot purred and nuzzled his chin, squeaking *It's okay!*

All eyes now turned to Harald, still struggling in Windshear's talons. "What's the matter with all of you!" he shouted at his men. "Why didn't you warn me?!"

One man replied, "We didn't want the dragons to drop us, Captain!"

Harald looked less than impressed with this excuse. Before he could verbally abuse his men, however, a deep and authoritative voice boomed out. "I hope you're happy, _Captain_." Stoick's voice was thick with scorn. "Let this be a lesson to you to _never_ try to hurt my sons."

"Aww, Stoick, you do care!"

"I was talking about Hiccup and Toothless, you egotistical oaf!"

Astrid whistled loudly. "That's enough! Let's get these _criminals_ locked up in the jail. We're still closer to our island than yours, Heather; can you lock them up there?"

"Sure thing, Astrid. I'll pick Ozzie and Cammie up whilst I'm there and take them home" Heather replied. She took the cage with Leo trapped inside, and gestured to the other riders with dragons clutching the squirming hunters in their claws, and called "Follow me, everyone!"

One by one, the dragons grasping the captured humans carefully in their claws peeled off, flying back north-east towards Berk.

Glad to see them gone, for now, Hiccup looked around at the remaining dragons and beamed. "Skulder! Good to see you!" he exclaimed cheerfully. The man gave a nervous wave from Cloudjumper's back and rambled "I am so sorry, I had no idea they were such awful - I'll make it up to you, I swear, I'll" –

"It's okay, Skulder, I know you didn't betray us. I'm just glad you're alive. Thank you for saving us, all of you – I mean, _all_ of you! I almost can't believe you're all here!" He'd been expecting the other riders, but not so many of their flock-mates to come to his aid. There was a chorus of *You're welcome, Alphas!* from all sides.

Astrid grinned, and revealed "It was Selena's idea." Hiccup and Toothless looked over at the sapphire eyed Night Fury, who warbled joyfully at them. *As soon as Astrid said you might be in trouble, I went to rouse them. We came because you would have done the same for any of us* she explained, completely confident.

Hiccup beamed at her. *You've all done well* Toothless praised them all, *and we are very grateful. Go home, now. Rest* he ordered gently. Thus dismissed, the riderless dragons turned towards home and flew back to their familiar nest, to spread the news that their Alphas were safe and that the dangerous humans had been caught.

"What are you going to do now?" Astrid inquired, when all of the riderless dragons but one, Selena, had departed.

"Dagur and I have some unfinished business to attend to" Hiccup explained, "If you guys are up for more flying, that is" he asked Toothless and Sleuther.

*More flying? We haven't done enough!* Toothless crowed. He wanted to stretch out these aches in his wings!

"Right, so it's settled, then. C'mon, Dagur – next stop, Icestorm Island!"

" _Finally!_ "

* * *

The flight to Icestorm Island seemed to take no time at all. Soon the dark foreboding peaks of the island's mountainous form swelled on the horizon. It was rocky and barren, with eerie spires of rock carved by wind, sea and rain. The tallest mountain reached the clouds, and iron ore in the stone meant that when one of the frequent storms occurred around here, the lightning struck the rocks and made them tremble. (3)

There was no sign of any Skrill…the only sign of humans was the clearly hastily abandoned and scorched dock, with one lonely rowboat tied to the post at the end. Toothless and Sleuther came to a landing, both bristling uneasily. They were invading another dragon's territory, and worse, it was that of a nesting mother. In dragon culture, this was almost completely taboo.

Hiccup rubbed Toothless' shoulder reassuringly. In a hushed voice he said "Psst, Dagur. Do you know how to get to the Skrill's nest?"

"Yep! It's a bit of a climb, though. You remember what I want you to ask her?"

Hiccup sighed. "Yes. I'll ask her if you can build an outpost here."

"And if we can keep mining the ore."

"I'll try."

"And if my kids can ride hers when they're all grown up." At Hiccup's unimpressed frown, he protested "Oh come on! Please? I might never get to ride a Skrill – and I'm okay with that – but just think of how majestic Oswald or Camicazi or both of them would look!"

"Dagur, we've been over this. The dragon chooses the rider as much as the rider chooses the dragon. Ozzie and Cammie might not even want to ride a Skrill. It's not something you can make happen" Hiccup insisted. Dagur pouted, and clasped his hands together pleadingly, but Hiccup would not be moved.

"Ugh, fine. I get it. No picking my kids dragons for them. Party pooper."

"Gee, thanks. Now remember, you need to show her she can trust you, that you respect her. Can you do that?" he prompted.

Dagur looked offended. "Of course! I have nothing but respect for the glorious Skrill!" he said earnestly, missing – or perhaps ignoring – Toothless' disgusted eye-roll. Even Sleuther was giving him a look.

"Well, a good place to start would be with calling her by her real name. Most dragons don't mind answering to human names, but this is a very proud and standoffish dragon we're talking about. We need to be careful not to offend her."

"Real name, gotcha! I bet it's even better than what I've been calling her. I bet it's the greatest, most incredible, deadliest name ever!"

As they made their way to the nesting site, Hiccup asked Toothless privately, * _So what kind of name do you think she'll have?*_

 _*Don't know, don't care*_ the dragon grumbled. * _Knowing Lightning-Fangs, it's going to be something long-winded and flashy (4)…what's so funny?*_ he asked, seeing Hiccup smirking at him.

* _Your pun. Lightning-Fang, flashy…get it?*_ Hiccup grinned. Toothless rolled his eyes. _Humans._

* * *

It was indeed a difficult climb to the Skrill's nest – at least, it would be for a human. On dragonback it was easier, and soon they made it to the boulders behind which, Dagur gestured, the nest lay. The Skrill had not attacked them as intruders yet, but it was only a matter of time, and the two dragons bristled warily.

Then Dagur stood up on Sleuther's back and peered over the edge of the boulders. ' _She's asleep!_ ' he mouthed to Hiccup, who frowned and stood up on Toothless' saddle. His dragon gave him a boost and he peeked over the rocks. On the other side of the stony grotto, tucked away beneath an overhang, he glimpsed the Skrill curled up in her nest.

Dagur climbed up on the boulder, dislodging a small pebble. It plinked on the stone below, and that one small noise was enough to rouse the apparently not really sleeping Skrill. She leapt to her feet with a shriek of *Trespassers!*, and then into the air. Lightning crackled in her jaws, and Sleuther yanked Dagur back off the boulder.

Toothless and Sleuther responded to her aggression in kind, trying to protect their humans, but Hiccup knew that if the dragons started fighting they'd never get anywhere. "No, no, no! No threat!" he cried, holding his hands up imploringly. *Don't fire, we're nice!* he begged. Dagur gave him a strange look and mouthed ' _Don't fire, we're nice?_ '

The Skrill's eyes widened when she heard a _human_ think-speaking. With a snarl, she flew up over their heads, and then dropped to grasp the boulders they stood near with her scythe claws. Nostrils flaring, she leaned over and sniffed at Hiccup. He stayed very still, trying to keep calm so as not to set off Toothless, whom he could feel growling.

*It's you! You are that human and Swift-Wing I hunted all those years ago* the Skrill exclaimed, wings flared in surprise. Dagur had to duck to keep from being knocked over by the nearest one. The Skrill hissed and mock-lunged at him, fangs bared. Sleuther snarled in turn and spread his own wings in a defensive stance. *I know _your_ scent. I chased you away! Enemy! Threat!* she shrieked, rearing up.

"Wait!" Hiccup cried out, *Stop!* he pleaded. She whipped around to stare at him. *Just listen, please* he went on hastily, *We're not here to hurt you, or your eggs. We just came to talk.*

The Skrill's eyes narrowed suspiciously. *How can you think-speak, human?* she demanded.

*Because we're heart bound, Lightning-Fang* Toothless declared, still glaring at the Skrill, *and if you hurt my other half even a little bit, I will rip you* -

"Hey!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Toothless, be nice" he scolded. *We're trying to help her, remember?*

* _You're_ trying to help her. I'm here under duress.*

The Skrill tilted her head a bit, curious, but her fangs were still bared warily. *You're here to talk? To help me? I need no help!* she boasted. She didn't sound insulted, though, so Hiccup thought it might be safe to continue. He made the mental note that Skrill's were probably a lot like Nadders – complimenting them was probably the best way to not get peppered with spikes or in this case, fried by lightning.

"You're a very powerful drakaina" he nodded, speaking aloud for Dagur's benefit. The man's eyes were fixed on the Skrill, and filled with awe. "And I, uh, see you remember us. My name is Hiccup, this is Toothless, Dagur and Sleuther" Hiccup explained, gesturing to them each in turn. Dagur gave a nervous wave.

*Him? I don't know this 'Sleuther', strange new dragon, but you brought _him_ here? The human who caught me in chains?* she hissed.

Hiccup winced. "Ah, yes, I know you and Dagur don't exactly have the best history with each other – but just hear me out, please. What's your name?" he asked politely.

The Skrill continued to squint at him suspiciously, unsure what to make of him. He was a heart bound human, which wasn't possible, and heart bound to a Swift-Wing of all dragons. Yet she remembered that it had been him who had refused to freeze her again, and she owed him her freedom. Out of all of them, he was the one she disliked the least.

*My name, human called Hiccup, is Sparkling Firelight over Silent Waters* she revealed grandly, preening. Hiccup couldn't help but think, _Yep, definitely like a Nadder. Come to think of it, they and Skrills look kind of similar, I wonder if they're related…_

Toothless rolled his eyes when he thought the Skrill wasn't looking. * _You see what I mean?*_

"That's a beautiful name" Hiccup complimented.

* _Traitor!_ *

Hiccup ignored him. "It's a bit of a mouthful, though. Do you mind if we call you…Sparkle?" _Please don't be offended, please don't be offended._

The Skrill sniffed at him, probably scenting his nervousness, but then a certain Berserker protested, "You can't! You can't name a Skrill ' _Sparkle_ '!"

"Why not?"

"Because – well because she's a _Skrill!_ The most glorious, powerful, awesome dragon in all the world! Uh, no offence, you two" he added to Sleuther and Toothless, who rolled their eyes at each other.

"Yeah, but you've gotta admit, Sparkle is a better name for a female Skrill than 'Deathstrike'" Hiccup deadpanned. It didn't have quite the desired effect - Dagur's eyes lit up hopefully.

He looked at the Skrill and beseeched her, "Oh great and glorious Skrill, you deserve a name befitting of your awesomeness. Please, may we call you 'Deathstrike'? It sounds so much cooler!"

"Dagur…" Hiccup said warningly, "You promised you'd respect her and use her real name."

"Yeah, but I refuse to believe her real name is Sparkle! You just made that up. You're terrible at naming dragons, you know."

Ignoring the jab, Hiccup revealed "Her real name is Sparkling Firelight over Silent Waters." Dagur stared at him. "No, seriously. I'm just trying to shorten it a bit."

"….Spark Fire! That sounds more like a Skrill name!"

Hiccup and Dagur started bickering again, but Toothless wasn't having any of that. *QUIET!* he roared. They were. *Just tell us what you want to be called* he demanded of the Skrill, *or else these _hatchlings_ will be squabbling all day.*

She threw her head back and let out a grating cackle that would chill the bones of any who heard it. *These humans of yours are quite funny! I see why you keep them. I will let you call me Sparkle* she told Hiccup, *because I dislike you the least.*

Hiccup blinked. _Was that a compliment or…?_ Dagur looked impatient. He smirked at the other man and retorted, "She picked Sparkle."

Dagur pouted.

"Well, now that we're all introduced…what we came to ask you, Sparkle, is…well, Dagur here, he's the Alpha of a human pack, and he uh…wants to have some of his subjects guard this – I mean, your island and your nest. From uh, dragon hunters and stuff...like that…"

At the mention of her nest, Sparkle hissed in alarm and twisted to look behind her at the eggs. These foolish intruders were distracting her! But there was no predator-enemy sneaking up on the eggs – she hurried to nose at them, all three shells, and leapt back to the boulders once more. She squinted her small purple eyes at Dagur suspiciously.

"…Um, she says 'is this true?'"

"Huh? Oh, yes! Yes, it is" Dagur nodded vigorously. "It's dangerous out there. We just escaped from dragon hunters! But don't worry - they're not here. They're not coming, not if I have anything to say about it!"

"Not that you can't guard your own nest" Hiccup said hastily, "but Dagur's right, it is dangerous out there and it sort of looks like you're here alone…"

Sparkle let out a guttural _lonely_ whine. *I shouldn't be!* she growled, *my kind were here before, but now they are not, because humans-!* She shrieked angrily, making their ears ring, and took off again. Before anyone could ask "What was that all about?", Sparkle returned, landing in the grotto between them and her nest and dropping a pickaxe.

Hiccup, Toothless, Dagur and Sleuther climbed up onto the boulders and jumped down the other side, keeping a respectful distance. "Someone attacked you with a pickaxe?" Dagur exclaimed, "That's awful!"

"Err, Dagur, I think that's one of your pickaxes" Hiccup pointed out. "And I don't think that's what she means….what was the second thing you wanted to ask her?"

"If my tribe can keep mining the ore in these rocks. There's tons of it!"

"But it's not unlimited. Sparkle, the rocks here, you need them for something important, don't you?" he guessed. "There must be a reason you and the other Skrills nest here on this island. Could you please explain?" he asked hopefully. It wasn't hard to sound genuinely curious – they really didn't know too much about Skrills.

*We swallow bits of special stone, tiny bits, to make shells for our eggs. The eggs are strong, but they can't break open, so we let lightning strike them. The hatchling inside soaks up the lightning and bursts out. But humans come with these wood-metal claws and dig it away and steal it! Now I am the only Lightning-Fang here* Sparkle explained, her head hanging low. Hiccup felt his heart twist in pity.

"Of course" he realised, turning to Dagur, "It says in the Book of Dragons that Skrill eggs are hatched with lightning (5). The ore is how they make sure that happens, but when you guys dig it out…"

Dagur's eyes widened as realisation dawned. "Oh…oops?"

Hiccup frowned thoughtfully. Both the Skrills and Dagur's tribe needed the iron ore rich in these rocks; the dragons for their eggs and the Berserkers for Gronckle Iron and trade. Neither could or would give up the iron ore. "There's gotta be some kind of compromise here…" he muttered, starting to pace back and forth.

Against his better judgement, Toothless was feeling some pity for Sparkle as well. *When did you last eat?* he asked her. She jumped, startled. After a moment she replied, *I haven't eaten for…a long time. I have to guard my nest.*

"Good idea, Toothless" Hiccup nodded, "Dagur, can you and Sleuther go and find some food for Sparkle?" he asked. The man almost tripped over himself in his enthusiastic haste. Then Hiccup turned to Sparkle and said *Right then, let's try to work this out.*

* * *

Dagur and Sleuther soon returned with plenty of fish for Sparkle. "She says thank you" Hiccup smiled as Sparkle devoured the meal. Dagur beamed. "Does that mean she said yes?" he asked hopefully.

Hiccup took a deep breath. "I managed to persuade Sparkle that she can't defend her nest alone; so here's the compromise. The Berserkers can build a small outpost here, and mine _half_ of the iron ore, in exchange for giving Sparkle food and time to sleep. And not disturbing her or her hatchlings" he added as an afterthought.

Dagur bounced on his heels like a child, grinning manically. He was standing not a few feet away from a Skrill! And she hadn't tried to kill him! He was going to make sure she and her hatchlings were protected, and well-fed…he wasn't going to take advantage of her like last time. He'd only recently learned the value of helping people, even if they couldn't help him back, but it felt good.

"Thank you, Hiccup" he said gratefully, "I couldn't have done this without you." He briefly pulled the younger man into a crushing hug; once he'd let go, and Hiccup's lungs had re-inflated, Dagur asked eagerly "Do you think she'd let me…you know?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Only one way to find out" he replied, stepping back and gesturing to Sparkle. At Toothless' insistence, he'd managed to get her to apologise for attacking them, and in return apologised for freezing her…again. Now the two dragons were engaged in trying to ignore one another, but they weren't at each other's throats, so he supposed that was all he could hope for.

Dagur gulped, and edged a few steps closer to the Skrill. "Um…Sparkle?" he called. She looked at him sharply. He gulped again, and hesitantly reached out, shutting his eyes at the same time. Sparkle stared at him in obvious confusion, tilting her head and clicking in bewilderment. *What is he doing?*

Hiccup explained, *He's showing he trusts you. He wants you to trust him back. Like this.* He held his own hand out, eyes closed, and Toothless pressed his nose into Hiccup's palm. Sparkle still seemed doubtful, but she lowered her head and carefully pressed the end of her snout against Dagur's fingers. When he felt her scales and opened his eyes, his grin flashed bright as lightning.

"Come on, Dagur – I think it's time we went back. It's a long way home" Hiccup prompted, climbing into the saddle. Dagur reluctantly tore himself away from the Skrill and mounted up. "Goodbye, Sparkle. It was good to meet you, properly. I hope you don't mind if we come back and visits when your eggs have hatched" he said hopefully.

Sparkle tilted her head thoughtfully. *I will let you come back, human called Hiccup. I will tolerate this human called Dagur, and your Swift-Wing other half, because I think I like you. I don't want to kill you. Now go away* she insisted, spreading her wings and snapping at them. Once they'd gone, she turned back to her nest and nosed at her eggs, curling up around them to keep them warm.

She couldn't believe she'd agreed to let _humans_ live here on an island for Lightning-Fangs. How in the name of star-fire had that strange little human made her do it? He was kind, and quiet, and listened to her; not like any other human she'd ever faced. _Maybe he's not quite human at all_ she thought to herself. _Maybe he's something new._

* * *

(1) Dagur's wife, 'Busty' Bersa. Her name means 'she-bear'. Before anyone objects with a certain **spoiler from season six,** you should know that the Defenders of the Wing DO NOT EXIST in the HBS continuity.

(2) This doesn't actually work. Don't try this at home.

(3) I am aware that this is not how iron ore really works. A mountainous island having many storms actually makes sense though, meteorologically speaking. I think.

(4) The word Toothless would use with a wider vocabulary would be 'pretentious'. The pun was only slightly intentional.

(5) It is semi-canon that Night Fury eggs are hatched via lightning, but I thought that it fit better for Skrills.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

Skin and Bones – Chapter Seven

As they flew away from Icestorm Island, gradually Toothless became aware that Hiccup was unusually happy. This was normally a good thing, but over the years he'd become familiar with the different sorts of happy Hiccup felt. This felt like the smug, 'I told you so' kind of happy under the 'satisfied job-well-done' kind of happy.

Sure enough, when he glanced back at Hiccup, his rider was smirking. *What is it?* he asked cautiously. Whenever Hiccup smiled like _that,_ it either meant he'd had a crazy idea, or he'd been proven right about his crazy idea. Whatever it was, it made Toothless nervous.

*Nothing!* Hiccup said innocently. *I'm just glad you and Sparkle were getting along. She wasn't that bad, now was she?*

So that was it. *I suppose she wasn't intolerable…* Toothless answered reluctantly, hooding his eyes in a sulk.

*So do you think maybe you were wrong about Lightning-Fangs, and they're not all selfish, vain, angry jerks?*

Toothless squirmed and growled a bit. *Maybe not _all_ of them…but this doesn't mean that she and I are friends now! So don't even think about trying to make us play nice.*

Hiccup grinned triumphantly. *I'm gonna get you over this prejudice of yours sooner or later, bud* he promised, patting Toothless' head. The black dragon snorted dismissively. *Good luck with that.*

It was late afternoon, nearing dusk, when they finally made it back to Berk. Needless to say their subjects were very happy to see them. Hiccup and Toothless landed and were immediately swarmed with dragons – first Biters, all of them thanking and praising their Alphas for rescuing one of their own, and then the bigger dragons. Toothless-Hiccup nuzzled and petted their flock-mates, thanking and praising _them_ for being so brave and coming to the rescue.

At last they dismissed the cluster of dragons and made it to the front of their house-nest. Astrid was waiting for them in the doorway, and then Helena squeezed out from behind her legs. "Hey, baby girl!" Hiccup beamed, scooping her up into his arms. Astrid smiled and said "Welcome home. C'mon, dinner's ready."

Hiccup made to go inside, but paused when he felt a twinge of fear from Toothless. * _Are you alright?_ * he asked, looking over his shoulder to see Toothless' ear-flaps had gone back uneasily. He reached up with one hand to keep an oblivious Helena from tugging playfully on one of his braids. "Ouch. Careful, darling, that hurts daddy."

Toothless didn't know what was wrong with him. He shook himself vigorously and replied *I'm fine. Let's go inside.*

So Hiccup pushed the door open, and Toothless followed behind him. He didn't know why he'd gotten so nervous – this was their home, it was safe. Yet he felt strangely vulnerable when the door closed behind him. Shutting him in. The floor felt like it was moving underneath his paws, and he wavered on them. What was wrong with him?

*You're back!* Selena warbled happily. Ebony was asleep in her paws; Toothless picked his way over to her and nuzzled them both affectionately. As soon as they'd come in, Astrid had come over and kissed her husband. Helena squealed and wriggled out of her father's arms, sliding down his legs and sticking her tongue out.

"Don't you start pulling that face, young lady" admonished Astrid, "Or there'll be no pudding after dinner tonight. Oh, and speaking of dinner…" She smiled and heaved over a large basket that reeked of raw fish, setting it down in front of the dragons. "Stormfly helped me pick them out" said Astrid, taking the lid off to reveal that it was filled to the brim with cod. Helena giggled and pinched her nose. "Stinky!"

Toothless' eyes and pupils widened. His nose twitched. The food smelled so good…but the floor kept rising and falling, and he suddenly felt a bit sick. *You eat first* he gestured to Selena, who tilted her head at him, puzzled, but then started gulping down fish.

With the dragons occupied with their own meal, Astrid turned back to hers. "So how did it go with the Skrill?" she asked, ladling out into bowls what might have been a stew. Hiccup hoped that the bad smell was the fish and not Astrid's cooking.

"It went great! Better than I expected, actually. I mean she wasn't exactly happy to see us, but once I'd explained why we were there, Sparkle was really quite reasonable" he answered. Astrid gave him an odd look over her shoulder.

"Sparkle?" she repeated dubiously.

"Her real name is Sparkling Firelight Over Silent Waters" he explained. Astrid's expression barely changed. "Yeah, I was surprised too."

"Pretty name" Helena singsonged happily.

"It is, isn't it?"

"So, Dagur is getting his outpost then."

"Yeah, he's pretty thrilled about it. Oh, he said he's going to come here again tomorrow, he wants to talk to you about what to do with Harald and his men. They did wrong both our tribes by capturing me and Dagur, after all." He wondered if he'd have to be involved…and whether he even wanted to be. The thought of what he'd been going to do made his skin crawl a bit…because part of him was still tempted.

"Oh, of course" Astrid nodded, as she spooned a nice big spoonful of brown and black goop into a bowl, followed by a helping of greenish goop. Hiccup knew it was mince and cabbage, but he suddenly felt nauseous at the sight of it. Then he realised it wasn't _his_ nausea. "Toothless, are you sure you're alright?" he asked, turning to his dragon with a look of concern.

Toothless wasn't sure at all. *I…I…* His fearful eyes darted around at the walls, and the ceiling, closing them in…the floor sinking and rising but being still… *I don't feel so good* he whimpered. Another wave of sickness came over him, and he gagged as the cod came back up.

In the nick of time Hiccup realised what was happening, and slid his still empty bowl under Toothless' mouth just before he retched. "Oh, buddy. It's okay, get it all out. There you go" he murmured, stroking the dragon's head as he moaned. Selena pressed against his other side, licking his face, and Astrid hurried over to pet him as well.

"Oh gosh, what happened? Had the cod gone bad?" she asked, momentarily forgetting that she and Stormfly had caught them just that afternoon.

*The floor is moving* said Toothless. He flinched and whimpered, *Why is it moving?*

Astrid frowned, confused, but then Hiccup exclaimed " _Oh_ …that happens sometimes, when you've been on a boat too long. It's called land sickness. It doesn't last, don't worry. Here, focus on me, okay? Don't think about the floor. It's not moving, Toothless. It's just your mind playing tricks on you" he said reassuringly.

"Oh, you poor thing" Astrid cooed sympathetically, "Do you want to go lie down?"

They heard squeaking from Ebony, who had awoken after being deprived of her mother's warmth. Helena was petting her. Selena crooned apologetically, and nuzzled Toothless briefly before moving to tend to their daughter. Toothless pressed against Hiccup, trying to focus on the feel of hands stroking his shoulders, and admitted, *I feel…trapped. I know I'm safe, but I'm scared.* He whimpered again. *I don't like this!*

Astrid met Hiccup's eyes, and said aloud what they were both thinking. "Battle-haunted." Being chained up, on a ship no less, had clearly made Toothless more than just a little uneasy. Hiccup looked around the enclosed room. The shutters above the stove were opened, but that gap wasn't large enough for Toothless to get out of. No wonder he felt hemmed in. "Astrid, can you open the door, please?"

She moved to do so, letting the last of the afternoon sun and fresh air spill into the room. "Is that better, bud?" Hiccup asked softly, rubbing circles on the back of Toothless' neck. The dragon sighed, relaxing at his touch and the sight of a gap through which he could escape. The heavy, closing-in threatening feeling subsided a little. *It helps* he crooned gratefully.

"Hey. You'll be alright. Just let me get a bite to eat, and then we'll go for a fly, okay?" Hiccup told him. He looked up at Astrid and said apologetically, "We're gonna have to sleep upstairs tonight. At least up there I can keep the landing ramp open."

"I understand. Just don't leave it open all night; it's freezing, and I'm not having you catching a cold and getting us all sick" she insisted, hiding her concern under scolding and snark. "Speaking of getting cold, come eat your dinner before _it_ gets cold."

* * *

The meal didn't actually taste too bad, despite its somewhat sludgy appearance. Over dinner, Astrid told Hiccup that Skulder had taken all of his collection from the ship they'd towed back to Berk, except for the dragon skeletons. He'd decided to give them a proper send-off. "He's really coming around on the whole 'dragon rights' thing" Astrid remarked with a smile.

As soon as he'd finished, Hiccup and Toothless left the house. They went for a flight around the island, like they always did at sunset. The unease Toothless felt drifted away with the wind, and after a while he felt comfortable enough to say *We don't have to sleep upstairs, you know. You can sleep in your own bed if you want to.*

Hiccup shook his head. "I don't mind. You being comfortable is more important…and besides, after today I kind of want to sleep close to you" he admitted, reaching out to stroke Toothless' head. The dragon looked back at him and purred with a gummy smile. It was a beautiful night, and the curled sliver of moon was high in the heavens before they could bring themselves to come in for a landing.

When Toothless dropped down onto the platform that led to Hiccup's study, they found that Astrid had already left a pillow and blanket up there. They made a nest for Hiccup with these and Toothless coiled around him. They groomed each other, Hiccup stroking Toothless and Toothless licking Hiccup. The touch and scent and taste of his other half soothed him like nothing else could.

Hiccup pressed and rubbed his palms against his partner's whole, beautiful skin, from his soft velvet stomach to his tough leathery wings. Pretty soon Toothless was sprawled, thrumming with purrs and smiling blissfully as Hiccup massaged his shoulders. Half-lying on the pillow with the blanket draped over him, Hiccup traced his fingers around the mottling patterns of Toothless' scales. He remembered Harald's threat and shuddered, pressing closer to his other half, his heart bursting with love. *I'd never let them hurt you.*

*I'd never let them hurt you, either* Toothless replied in kind. He drew his wing and tail up and around Hiccup in an embrace. Hiccup shifted and lay his head against the dragon's warm side. *I can't believe – the _nerve_ of him, threatening you like that. I just…* Hiccup's hands clenched into fists. *I just want to...I know it's wrong, but part of me…part of me still wants Harald dead.*

Toothless crooned reassuringly. *That's not wrong. I want him dead too* he revealed. Hiccup's brow furrowed in bewilderment.

*But…but you said…*

*I said that I didn't want _you_ to kill him. Not that I didn't want him to die. He deserves to be punished. I wasn't trying to protect him, I was trying to protect you. I knew you'd regret it, if you killed him, or if you asked me to do it.*

*You _offered_ to do it* Hiccup pointed out. Toothless shrugged. *You're right, though. I'm not a killer. I suppose if he gets executed though…that's not murder, it's justice.* He sighed. *I still don't understand what's up with Leo. How does a dragon side with a dragon hunter? It doesn't make any sense.*

*It does if the dragon is a jerk* Toothless grunted. Through a yawn he added *You're thinking about it too much. You're always saying we dragons are people. Well, there are good dragons and bad dragons, just like there are good humans and bad humans. You just have to accept that Leo is a _bad dragon._ If he wants to betray his whole race to fawn over a murdering eel-eater, then so be it.*

*I guess you're right* Hiccup said sadly. He yawned himself, and settled down. *Goodnight, Toothless. Love you.*

*Goodnight Hiccup* the dragon purred, *Love you too.*

* * *

"NOOO!" Hiccup was screaming, Toothless was screaming; Toothless was on the ground, covered in blood, Harald standing over him with a knife, wearing a black dragon skin cloak; Toothless' skeleton, all the dragon skeletons were advancing on Hiccup, who scrambled backwards only to fall off a cliff; Toothless dived after him but he had no wings and he was falling to pieces and they were going to - !

"Aagh!" Hiccup cried out, waking up with a jerk. Before he knew it, Toothless – real, fleshy, _alive_ Toothless – was there nuzzling him reassuringly. *Hiccup? Hiccup, it's okay. You were just having a nightmare* the dragon crooned comfortingly. Hiccup wrapped his arms around Toothless' neck and hugged him tightly.

*Toothless* he moaned, pressing his face against dark scales. *You were…he was…he killed you! He…he s-skin…* He choked off, unable to bring himself to say it.

*It's not real. It was just a bad dream. It's okay. I'm okay. You're okay* Toothless reassured him. Hiccup refused to let go of him. Toothless lay down, cradling his other half between his forepaws and curling his tail around Hiccup. The same muscular appendage that could send a full grown Viking flying into a wall supported the man's slight weight like a friend's arm around his shoulders. *I guess I'm not the only one of us who's battle-haunted* Toothless remarked.

Hiccup shuddered in his hold. *You were dead* he whimpered, *there was so much _blood_ …* He felt sick. Toothless crooned and licked him. *Hiccup, it's okay. It was just a nightmare. I'm alive, I'm okay. I'm sorry I wasn't there to get you out, but I woke up just before you did.* (1)

*It's okay. I'm glad you're here now* Hiccup said gratefully. A sudden squall of icy wind made him cringe and huddle closer to Toothless' warmth, as a wing curled around to shield him. Toothless looked over at the open landing platform, and then at the pulley holding it open. He began to charge a plasma blast, but Hiccup softly cried "Wait!"

Toothless swallowed his fires again and protested *We need to close it. It's too cold for you.*

*I know, but if you blast it closed it'll bang, and I'll have to repair the rope* Hiccup explained as he struggled to his feet. He walked over, shivering, and pulled a lever. The counterweight dropped and the platform was winched closed, shutting out the cold and sealing them in darkness. At least until Toothless filled his jaws with fire again, lighting the room with a low flame.

Hiccup smiled gratefully, but he didn't go straight back to Toothless' side. Instead he picked his way over to the trapdoor, and hauled it open, lowering it carefully so it didn't slam. Then he retrieved a lantern from the desk, and brought it to Toothless to light. The dragon obliged, and then asked *What are you doing?*

Stifling a yawn, Hiccup replied *What I should have done in the first place. I won't be long.* He went back over to the trapdoor and crept down the stairs. Toothless waited, ears pricked, listening to Hiccup moving around the kitchen – _he probably thinks he's being quiet, bless him._ Soon Hiccup reappeared, holding a bowl in one hand and the lantern in the other. The contents of the bowl had a familiar scent.

*Dragon nip tea. Works every time* Hiccup smiled, when he and Toothless were curled up together once more. Toothless swallowed the pungent smelling water, and the effect was almost immediate. Toothless yawned, eyelids growing heavy, and rested his head on the wood. Hiccup stayed awake just long enough to blow out the lantern, setting it and the bowl aside, before slumping back against Toothless' side and sinking into a blissfully dreamless sleep (2).

* * *

They woke the next morning, well rested. After getting ready and eating, Hiccup and Toothless went out to face the world. To be more exact, they headed to where they knew Sharpshot had made his nest, in a little hollowed out tree trunk in the forest. Hiccup whistled for him. First Sharpshot, and then Quicksnap crawled out of the trunk, and flew over to them.

*Good morning, Alphas!* Sharpshot trilled, landing on Hiccup's arm; Quicksnap perched on his shoulder. He scratched them both under the chin one at a time, and replied "Good morning, you two. Listen…sorry again about what happened yesterday" he added apologetically.

The two little Biters nuzzled him. *Not your fault, Alpha-Hiccup* Quicksnap purred, licking his chin. Sharpshot sat up on his arm like a hawk and puffed his chest out, snorting smoke. *I'm brave! Brave and sneaky! I wanted to* he insisted.

"Still, I should have been more careful" Hiccup admonished himself.

*Maybe ask Dart next time? Dart very quick and sneaky* Quicksnap suggested, as she crawled over Hiccup's shoulders to perch beside her mate on his arm. Dart – aka Sneaky – was the Terror that Astrid had trained back when they were doing that competition – uh, team exercise. He might have been a better choice than Sharpshot, admittedly, whose strength lay in his uncanny aim more than stealth.

"I'll keep that in mind" Hiccup conceded, before saying "But we came here to ask you, Sharpshot; did you find out anything about Harald's plans, before he caught you? Or did Leo tell you anything, even by accident?" he questioned. He wanted answers, and Sharpshot would be more forthcoming with what little he knew than either of _them_.

*Leo not talk, but I know bad human wanted to take you and Alpha-Toothless away and do _bad_ things!* he whined, distressed. "I know" Hiccup murmured, petting him soothingly, "Did you learn anything else? Anything about who told them to capture us?"

Sharpshot shook his head, accidentally knocking his horns into Quicksnap's. She leapt off Hiccup's arm and circled overhead, landing instead on Toothless' back. *Sorry, Alpha-Hiccup* Sharpshot whimpered, crouching submissively with big sad eyes. It tugged at Hiccup's heartstrings and he couldn't resist cuddling the little guy. "It's okay, don't worry. You did your best. I'm so proud of you."

Then Toothless asked, *Sharpshot, do you know why Leo is friends with Harald, the bad human, even though Harald is a dragon hunter?*

Sharpshot was purring blissfully in Hiccup's arms. He twitched his wings, blinked thoughtfully, cocked his head to one side. *Leo strange. Didn't talk, maybe couldn't talk. Leo not know how to use think-speak, maybe?* he guessed, twitching his tail uncertainly.

It didn't make much sense, unless… "Harald raised him" Hiccup realised. He suspected Harald – or someone else – had killed or captured Leo's true parents, leaving the egg behind. "Hatchlings need to be taught to use their ability to think-speak. If Leo was raised from an egg by humans, he wouldn't have learned how to project his thoughts…but there might still be hope for him. We could teach him to think-speak, try and help him get back to normal." It was naïve, perhaps, foolish even, but Hiccup could not help it. Somehow, some way, he always found hope. "Thanks, Sharpshot" he smiled. The little dragon crawled up to his shoulder and nuzzled him, then both he and his mate bid their Alphas farewell and flew away to hunt.

*Now what?* asked Toothless. Hiccup hesitated. He had something in mind, but his other half wasn't going to like it…

* * *

Harald looked up through the bars of the cell door, and smirked. "Hello, Hiccup" he greeted far too calmly, "Sleep well?"

The younger man didn't rise to the bait. "You care about Leo" he said bluntly. It wasn't a question.

Harald scoffed, rolling his eyes. "So sentimental, you dragon lovers. He's useful to me, nothing more."

"Liar. I saw it when Dagur caught him, you were worried about him."

There was a pause. Finally Harald shrugged. "Very well. I admit I am…fond of the little fellow. He's good company. I suppose you can't wrap your head around that, can you? My having a dragon companion?"

"I find it hard to believe you haven't kept him around out of the goodness of your heart and no ulterior motives whatsoever" Hiccup agreed, raising an eyebrow.

The invitation was clear, but Harald didn't accept it. Instead he asked, "So is this the part where you hold it over my head? Tell me to talk, or to do what you say, or you'll hurt Leo?"

Hiccup's face was stony. Harald's was unfazed. "By all means, say what you like. It makes no difference to me. Know why?" When Hiccup failed to respond, he continued, "Because like I said, you're too sentimental. There's no way you could bring yourself to hurt a dragon, even to get to me. And even if you did…I could get over it.

"You see, that's the difference between you and I. You wear your heart on your sleeve, whereas I" –

"Have no heart at all?" Hiccup finished. His father's mantra rang in his mind. _"Men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with."_

Still, if there was even a chance… "It doesn't have to be this way. You can make money from dragons without them having to be killed, or enslaved…there are workarounds. You said it yourself, you're fond of Leo. Is it really so hard to believe that other dragons could have feelings and personalities too?"

"Not entirely. I am aware that other people beside myself have feelings…but you seem to be confusing me with someone who _cares_. I agreed to capture you because the man made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and then refused to pay it until I'd delivered you. If I die, it hardly matters – the wheels are in motion. Things are changing, Hiccup, and there's nothing you or I can do about it now."

Hiccup had heard enough. Spinning on his heel, he turned and walked out of the jail, refusing to look back.

* * *

"Order! The Council is gathered" Astrid announced, surveying the occupants of the table. Dagur on her right as a guest of honour, followed by Fishlegs and Tuffnut. Hiccup on her left, followed by Snotlout and Ruffnut. "First order of business" –

"The first order of business, Chief, should be apologising to us", Tuffnut gestured between himself and his sister, "Because we were right about those guys being dragon hunters _this whole time._ " He folded his arms and looked unbearably smug.

Well used by now to being interrupted, Astrid calmly replied "Yes, but you also accused Skulder of being a dragon hunter, and he was duped just as much as the rest of us" she pointed out. Tuffnut deflated a little, much to her satisfaction.

"Y-yeah…but Skulder's the one who gave these guys a way to Berk!"

"Tuffnut, what happened was not Skulder's fault."

"Of course not" Snotlout folded his arms, "It was Hiccup's fault."

"Thanks for the support" Hiccup said sarcastically.

"Well I'm just saying, if you hadn't told anyone in Iceland about your 'magic power', then Harald wouldn't have tried to get to you and Toothless" Snotlout defended, "Ergo, it's your own fault."

"Snotlout, Harald was paid by someone to capture us. My 'magic power', as you put it, was just a bonus" Hiccup explained. "But…you have a point. I was careless, and I shouldn't have been. It's not just me I have to worry about" he said solemnly.

"But who would pay a bounty hunter to capture you and Toothless?" wondered Fishlegs.

"Well, it's obviously one of Hiccup's arch-enemies" Tuffnut reasoned, counting them off on his fingers. "Lessee…Alvin, reformed. Dagur, hi Dagur, also reformed. Ryker, dead. Viggo, dead, also…"

"It's Adulfr" Hiccup deadpanned. At the others' dubious expressions, he protested "Oh come on, think about it. Tuffnut's right, it has to be someone who holds a grudge against me, and Adulfr is the only person alive who fits that bill."

"How could it be him, though?" Fishlegs asked, confused, "He's in prison! His own tribe have him locked away."

"I don't mean that Adulfr is the one whom Harald met with" explained Hiccup. "He must have contacts on the outside. My guess is he planned to be broken out of prison after I'd been captured so he could kill me personally. I don't even want to think about what he wanted with Toothless." He shuddered and blindly reached back for warm scales.

"But doesn't that mean they might tell him about your…you-know-what?" Fishlegs questioned worriedly.

Hiccup shrugged. "Probably, but that's the least of my worries. This might be the first time Adulfr sent someone to capture me, but it probably won't be the last."

"Agreed" nodded Astrid, "So we have to be vigilant. I want every new ship that comes to Berk to be searched and the crew questioned, to catch out these plots before any harm can come of them. Now then – what are we going to do with Harald, and the other prisoners?"

Dagur raised a hand, silently asking for permission to speak. When Astrid nodded, he slapped it down on the table and said bluntly, "Execute them. It's too dangerous to let them live."

"Yeah! I say we drop 'em in Dragon Island's volcano" Tuffnut suggested with an unnervingly malevolent grin.

"Nah, that's not ironic enough" his sister scoffed, "Let's just let the dragons eat 'em."

"They won't _eat_ them" Snotlout insisted, "They'd get food poisoning. Let's be traditional here and do the Blood Eagle (3)."

"Snotlout! Nobody's been executed on Berk for centuries, much less in such a…barbaric way! Dagur, don't you think that's a little extreme?" protested Fishlegs.

"Nobody is getting executed" Hiccup declared firmly. Dagur glared at him, jabbing a finger at him from across the table.

"It's the only way, Hiccup! We can't just exile them– they'll go right back to hunting and skinning dragons for profit."

Dagur's words elicited a chorus of shock and outrage, but the argument went over it all. "So we keep them imprisoned! For life if we have to, but we're not putting anyone to death. Believe it or not, Dagur, that is _not_ the only way. There's always a better one."

"Berserkers never keep prisoners – they're just more mouths to feed. Are you seriously saying we should be merciful? To them? To _Harald_? They wanted to murder our dragons, Hiccup! They were gonna turn Toothless into a cloak and Sleuther into armour!"

"I know that, damnit, how could I forget?" Hiccup snapped angrily. "That doesn't mean we have to kill them. That's too permanent."

Astrid began to say "That's enough", but she was cut off by Dagur's next exclamation.

"You're afraid! That's what this is about. You're scared that if we execute them like they deserve, someone'll come to get revenge, but it's not the same thing! This isn't murder we're talking about, it's justice" he insisted.

"Can you blame me? If we kill them, there's no going back. This won't solve the problem, Dagur, it's just going to make things worse! It doesn't matter if we call it justice, I'm still going to get blamed, and all my efforts to change people's minds about me and dragons will be wasted. Because of Adulfr, people hate me enough as it is!"

"Stop" –

" _We_ don't hate you, so who cares what complete strangers think? When have you _ever_ cared what people think of you? What's more important, your precious reputation or the lives of the dragons?"

"Damn it, Dagur, I'm trying to do the right thing here!" Hiccup roared, thumping a fist on the table as the Berserker Chief did the same. Before either of them could yell another word, there was a flash of silver and a resounding _thunk_ as Astrid slammed her axe between them into the table, sending splinters flying.

" _Shut! Up!_ "

They sat – Hiccup jerked back in his chair so quickly it toppled backwards, and he grabbed for the edge of the table. Toothless pushed the chair back to its normal position from behind. * _Thanks, bud._ *

Astrid glared at them both; Hiccup and Dagur cringed apologetically. Only now did they remember there were other people there. A brief glance told them that Fishlegs was relieved all the shouting was over. Snotlout and the twins were disappointed. At last, Astrid sighed and wrenched her axe out of the table. Just another notch in the wood.

She set it down again and turned to her husband. "Hiccup, I understand what you're trying to say, and I agree, putting all of them to death would be taking things too far…but Harald's fate is sealed, as far as I'm concerned. Unless…you think you can change his mind?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I've tried. He said that even if he died, it wouldn't make a difference. But the rest...it's a long shot, I know, but I have to try. I want to do the right thing, I'm just…I'm not sure I know what the right thing _is_ anymore" he sighed. Briefly he felt a pang of longing for the days when things were simple, when he could outsmart his enemies and blast them to Valhalla without fearing that he was only making things worse.

"I'm sorry, Astrid. You too, Dagur."

"No. No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed your buttons like that. Truce?" the other man offered hopefully, reaching a hand across the table. After a moment, Hiccup leaned forward and shook it.

The debate went on, all of them discussing what was to be done with Harald and his men. Dagur offered to send a ship to bring the prisoners back to Berserker Island. "There's more room in our dungeons" he explained, "and that way, if we do end up, y'know…" he swiped a finger across his throat, "nobody'll blame you" he said to Hiccup.

Hiccup sighed. "They're going to blame me anyway" he said defeatedly, "And I know it shouldn't matter what complete strangers think of me – but it _does._ It matters when the lies they believe make them try to hurt people I care about, and the truth doesn't help much either. I'm just so _sick_ of it. I don't want to risk breaking something I can't fix."

There was a long pause. Finally Snotlout scoffed. "If they're gonna hate you no matter what you do, why fight it? Just…be yourself, and all that crap. Sometimes you just gotta say 'screw it' and let things burn."

"I think what Snotlout is trying to say" Fishlegs interjected, giving the other man a disapproving frown that went ignored, "Is that you can't please everyone. Sometimes there isn't a 'right' thing to do at all."

"I know…and I appreciate what you're saying. Really, I do." He almost wished they'd just killed Harald when they had the chance; at least then they wouldn't have to have this discussion. "Whatever decision we make is going to have consequences, probably bad ones…but we still have to make it. It's your call, Chief" he said, turning to Astrid.

She sucked in a breath and squared her shoulders. "I'm putting it to a vote. All in favour of executing Harald and imprisoning his men on Berserker Island, say aye" she ordered.

" _Aye!_ "

"All opposed?"

Not a single 'nay' was heard.

* * *

That only left the matter of what to do with Leo. Now that they knew the little dragon couldn't think-speak, the pack – especially the other Biters – took pity on him. Hiccup entrusted them to take Leo under their wing and try to teach him to think-speak, as well as teach him that helping hurt other dragons was _not_ a good thing to do.

Harald's ship, with the dragon bones stowed on board, was towed by dragons out before the cliffs of Berk. Hiccup, Toothless, Skulder and the other riders stood with bows ready to fire down upon them. "May these dragons live on, in the memory of all who knew them" Hiccup declared solemnly, reciting a draconic funeral rite, "And may the sparks of the fire in which we lay them to rest, lift their souls up beyond the sky and to the stars, where they will fly and flame forever."

He pulled the notched arrow back to his cheek, the string cutting into his fingers, with all his strength…then he released it. The flaming arrow curved through the air, striking with pinpoint accuracy the mast of the ship. The sword was not the only weapon Hiccup had seen fit to master; his other half never missed, after all, so why should he?

The others followed suit; soon, the whole ship was wreathed in flames. They watched it burn in silence for a while. Then one by one, the riders mounted their dragons and left, until only Hiccup and Skulder remained. The two of them stood side by side, gazing down at the fire. Presently Skulder remarked, "I should have done this years ago."

"Probably" Hiccup agreed thoughtlessly. Toothless nudged him pointedly, and he amended "But you meant well. And you know I don't blame you for what happened with Harald."

"I'm sorry all the same" Skulder apologised. They stood side by side in silence…then Hiccup heard Skulder chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. It's just…I remember years ago, when you were just a little boy, running after me and begging me to look at your sketches or to see whatever I'd found in the woods...and now look at you. You've grown into quite the incredible young man, Hiccup. This mission of yours, to bring dragons and humans together…I'd like to be a part of it" Skulder declared, turning to face Hiccup properly. "If you'll have me."

Hiccup looked at him for a few long moments, and then smiled. "I'd be honoured. Welcome to the team, Skulder." They shook hands.

They gave him a lift home; he was staying at Fishleg's house still, and it hadn't been decided if a new one should be built for him. After they'd dropped Skulder off, Toothless took off and climbed up into the air, soaring around and over their island. Hiccup smiled quietly to himself as he looked out over their nest and their subjects, all safe and alive.

Nobody would come to kill them and tear them apart, if the Alphas of Berk had anything to say about it.

Toothless alighted atop the rock spire, the base of which had been carved out centuries ago to house the Great Hall. He and Hiccup looked out to sea, out at the dangers beyond the icy barrier, and knew that whatever enemies might be out there, whatever scheme Adulfr concocted to get his revenge, they would face it together.

*I suppose this only leaves one question* Toothless said finally. Hiccup made a curious sound, and he elaborated, *Skulder. He'll be living on Berk now, where everyone knows that you can understand dragons, and he'll be working with you…so what are we going to tell him?*

"Let's not worry too much about that" Hiccup replied, "If he asks, then we'll decide. Let's see how much he can figure out for himself."

* * *

(1) If you recall from way back in 'This is Berk', Hiccup and Toothless have a shared dream realm in which they can share – well, dreams, and memories. They can also pull each other out of nightmares.

(2) Just like catnip, in this continuity dragon nip acts as a sedative to dragons if they ingest it, unless the breed is not naturally affected by it. The dragon nip 'tea' is really just water with bits of the grass in it, which makes it easier to swallow.

(3) This was a real Viking execution method. My advice - don't google it whilst eating. I mean seriously, DON'T GOOGLE IT.


End file.
